Ron Stoppable: Man or Monster?
by Onizuka Inc
Summary: Ron's life as a sidekick and best friend is changed forever as a strange camping incident alters his destiny... Not an official crossover, but many *cough* borrowed elements. PLEASE review. Rating has increased due to present changes and future events.
1. Blood Moon Rising

**Note 1: I do not own Kim Possible or any of its affiliated content. This story is purely for the purposes of joy and laughter and...you know...whatever else it may cause in you.**

**Note 2: This story ignores STD**

**Note 3: I forgot what this note was supposed to be, so for now, it is a placeholder.**

**Ron Stoppable: Man or Monster?**

**Chapter 1: Blood Moon Rising**

"Hey KP, wait up!" yelled a blond senior as he raced down the street to catch up with his best friend. Achieving his goal, he bent double with his hands on his knees and struggled to catch his breath. His friend smiled.

"Jeez Ron, need to run a little more, huh?" She tossed her silky, auburn tresses over her shoulder as Ron looked up from his knees, his heart still thudding from his previous cardio-based efforts.

"Easy for you to say, you're a cheerleader. You're built for athletic-ness, Kim."

"Ron, is that even a word?"

Ron looked up.

"Huh?"

Kim Possible draped a hand over her eyes dramatically as her best friend, Ron Stoppable, stood up. His heart rate had finally reached something that could be considered normal (considering his high-fat, high-naco diet).

"Never mind," Kim sighed .

Ron seemed to think for a minute, then realization flashed behind his chocolate eyes.

"Oh yeah KP, I forgot to tell you…I can't come to the movies this weekend with you and Monique."

Kim raised an eyebrow.

"Why not?"

Ron did his trademark scratch-behind-his-when-he-is-nervous thing and mumbled.

"What was that?" Kim asked in an aggravated tone while Ron avoided her gaze.

"My dad is taking me hunting."

Kim raised both her eyebrows this time.

"You, hunting?"

"That's just what I said KP! But he said that I needed to toughen up some, so he's going to take me hunting. He went on and on about the 'Great Outdoors' and the bonds between man and nature…" Ron ranted as he began his slightly humorous tirade against the evils and oppressions of Nature and its creatures (specifically the kind with tails and a tendency to toss their own waste).

Kim groaned and decided to stop his whining in its tracks before Ron got out of hand.

"Alright then. I'll see you when you get back from your 'nature hike.'"

"Um, ok KP. See ya later!"

With that, he turned around and walked back to his house to pack. Kim sighed again. She'd gotten the tickets for the movie he'd wanted to see too, _Speed Racer_. She continued on to her own house deep in thought.

_Maybe, I could exchange them for tickets to _PS: I Love You_. Mmmm…Gerard Butler_.

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"Dad, we've been out here for hours," Ron whined, struggling with both his pack and his pants, which got caught on every nearby twig, branch, and limb. "When are we going back to camp?"

After hiking nearly three and a half miles in a nearly perfect circle, Ron had managed to lose not only his own map, but his compass, his left sock (how?), the battle between his pants and gravity at least twice and a bag of trail mix to a squirrel the size of a dachshund.

Ron's father put his finger to his lips and bent low to the ground, running a hand over the soft soil of the forest floor.

"What is it dad?" Ron asked, his nervousness palpable in the suddenly silent forest.

His father stared at the ground intensely, and then back up at Ron, pointing to the ground.

"Wolf tracks…and they're fresh." Ron swallowed audibly. His father had warned him about the wolves in this forest. They hunted in packs upwards of five to six and were large even compared to the bigger dogs back in Middleton. They normally left humans alone, but years of game hunting in these woods had desensitized them to the human scent. And if one was injured or felt threatened…well, it was best just to avoid them at all costs.

In the corner of his eye, Ron noticed a flash of gray. He whirled around to find nothing but trees and a squirrel stealing the other bag of trail mix from the pocket of his pack. His father poked him in the ribs, making him jump.

"Come on. Let's go back to camp." Ron sighed in relief; these woods creeped him out.

Back at camp, Ron couldn't shake the feeling that he was being watched, but when he turned, he found nothing there. His father, on the other hand, seemed ecstatic about the whole trip and hummed off-key to himself as he tossed random pieces of tree bark and limb onto the fire. At his insistence, his dad had only brought essentials for the trip, so Bueno Nacho had been nixed as well any other acceptable (to Ron Stoppable) form of decent snackage.

_Hmph, lousy squirrel…taking my trail mix…we should make some squirrel stew. _

Ron began to fantasize about preparing squirrel cuisine (which he had one day seen on _Cajun Cuisine and You_) and felt a little better. However, between the several hours hiking and hauling his pack, the physical and psychological attacks from Nature and the emotional toll from the loss of both bags of trail mix, he was exhausted.

"Hey dad, I'm turning in early, ok?"

Mr. Stoppable smiled at his son from the campfire.

"Early to bed, early to rise huh? Good thinking. I'll be in shortly."

Ron shrugged and crawled into his tent. After peeling his slightly smelly clothing from hi body and putting on his pajamas, he slid into his sleeping bag…

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Ron awoke with a start to the call of nature…or more like the slap-in-the-face of nature. 'Whoa…I've never had to pee so bad in my life. Sweet Nacos…' he thought, struggling out of his sleeping bag and trying to find his shoes. After several tense moments of effort and more than a few victories for his sleeping pallet, he managed to break free.

Finding a pair of slippers, he put them on quick and exited the tent as fast as humanly possible, nearly killing himself in the process. Finally freed of the Polymer Menace, he trudged to the toiletry section of the camp, a.k.a. a hole in the ground outside the camp radius. The glowing embers of the fire did nothing to alleviate the creepiness of the dark dank woods in the wee hours of the morning.

"It's like a horror movie or something…wait a second," Ron thought aloud, "I'm Ron Stoppable, teen hero extraordinaire…uh, sidekick to teen hero extraordinaire! I'm not scared of these little woods. And why? Cause I'm the Ron-Dog!" Ron struck a triumphant pose, blissfully ignorant of the hilarity that his one-piece pajamas and bunny slippers would have cause to any witnesses.

Upon reaching his destination, he quickly unzipped himself to the waist, getting the zipper stuck and struggling with it for about five minutes. Defeating his metallic foe, he commenced the act of emptying his bladder of its contents upon the forest dirt, sighing with relief.

Until the crackling caught his attention.

His eyes wide and his fight-or-flight responses firing off, he finished quickly and zipped himself back up to the waist, looking around franticly for the source of the noise. Another crackle below him brought his attention to…a squirrel. Ron sighed with relief again.

_Whoa, now that was all kinds of freaky_.

He bent down to look at the squirrel before noticing the squirrel was not looking up at Ron, but rather, over Ron's shoulder. Then, Ron felt hot air blow over his neck and turned slowly to find a pair of yellow eyes staring into his own. His heart pounding, Ron's last thought was, _I bet that's the same squirrel that stole my trail mix…_

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Kim Possible and another girl were walking out of the movie theater, chatting excitedly. The other girl was African-American with long ebony hair tied in a large braid down her back. This of course was none other then Kim's best friend of the female gender, Monique. They had just finished seeing _PS: I Love You _and were discussing the best qualities of the film…which may or may not have involved a complete discussion with how much of a hottie Gerard Butler was.

"Seriously, Kim, that was hands down the most romantic thing I've ever seen. He was totally TSFWaaHTB!"

Kim racked her brain attempting to decipher Monique-speak.

"Too Sexy For Work and…?" she said questioningly.

"Too Sweet For Words and a Hottie To Boot!" Monique said with a squeal as she led Kim over to club banana to check out the latest fashions. "Speaking of which…" she continued, eyeing the skirt adorning the mannequin in the window, "any news from the front lines?"

Kim's face remained impassive as she checked out the mannequin as well, but instead eyeing the purple blouse the figure advertised rather than the skirt. After a few moments she continued into the store, Monique hot on her trail waiting for the latest juicy gossip concerning the Middleton High dating scene.

"Well Brick and Bonnie are back together again, what a shocker, Jeanette and Liz are still on the prowl for team captains and Marcella hooked up with Tim Pataloy earlier this week."

Monique let out a low whistle at that.

"Isn't he the guy who's father owns Middleton's Steel and Upperton's International?"

Kim nodded as she pulled a top to her torso to get Monique's opinion. Monique made a face which Kim mirrored as she put the blouse back and continued to browse. After a moment of silence, Monique spoke up again, this time in her conspirator voice.

"Girl, did you hear about Tara? Latest news is she's crushin' bad."

Kim's interest was piqued as she pulled Monique over to the sanctity of the dressing rooms, each carrying a single article to try on while they spoke.

"Anyone interesting?" Kim called to Monique in a stage whisper through the thin stall door. She could almost hear Monique's smile in her voice.

"Oh, I'd say so…"

Kim thought for a moment.

"Do we know him personally or just through the gossip chain?"

"Oh, definitely personally."

Kim struggled with both her new top and her mental search for a Tara-date candidate. At least she won the battle with her shirt.

"I give up Monique, who is it?"

She heard Monique's door open and she stepped outside of her own room to check out Monique's new jeans and get an opinion on her shirt. She found Monique with her arms fanned wide and above her head, turning slowly to let Kim admire how the pants clung in all the right places. At Kim's thumbs up and Monique's nodding approval of her new blouse, a baby blue tube top, they wandered back over to the counter to ring up. Kim was about to burst for an answer but, as Monique opened her mouth, the Kimmunicator chirped.

Beep beep be doop!

Sighing, Kim reached to answer it. Ever since the iPhone and other smartphones became the next new thing, Wade had upgraded the Kimmunicator to double as her cell phone. Her mother's voice rang out from the powerful, yet miniature speakers.

"Kim?"

"Hey Mom, what's up?"

"Kimberley…something happened to Ron…he's here in the hospital."


	2. Every Dog has its day

**Chapter 2**

The first thing that Ron noticed when woke was that…well…he was alive. Naked except for a thin paper-gown (which unfortunately did absolutely for his modesty), but alive no less. He tried to look down at his torso, but his neck was so stiff that it felt like his head was attached to his body by cardboard. He couldn't even muster the energy to feel relieved. He wiggled a finger, which he saw out of the corner of his eye. It appeared that his right arm was up in a sling while the rest of his body was out of his line of sight.

Sigh…

'What the heck happened? I was with dad…had to pee…uh…

Yellow...eyes?'

He glanced up in time to hear the door open and see Kim and Monique rush through the door.

"Kim? Mon...que…?"

Darkness…

**/-\\\\\/-\\\\\/-\\\\\/-\\\\\/-\\\\\/-\\\\\/-\\\\\**

"So doctor, do you know yet what it was that attacked him?" Kim's eyes were wide and glistening with unshed tears, not unnoticed by Monique or the nearby nurse, but both had enough tact to pretend not to notice.

"Sorry Miss Possible, but we've never seen a bite, or any wound for that matter, quite like Mr. Stoppable's here," the Doctor said calmly, trying to sooth the young woman's fears. "The bite resembles that of a wolf, however, the bite radius is far too large. But don't worry, he arrived in plenty of time and, with a few days rest and a touch of care, he'll be just fine."

The nurse subtly caught the doctor's attention.

"Excuse me Dr. Ferrin, but the Stoppable and the Possible families are both here."

"Oh dear…alright, I'll go talk to them. You may stay here, Miss Possible, if you would like. I must go speak with yours and Mr. Stoppable's parents."

He left the room, beckoning the nurse to follow him, and they both left, leaving the three teens alone.

Kim started numbly towards Ron's unconscious form, her eyes fixed on his chest as it slowly rose and fell with his steady breathing. Monique decided that she suddenly had to use the restroom…or something.

"I'll be back in a minute Kim. I gotta go…do that thing…" she said quickly, leaving the two friends alone.

Kim sat down beside him, shifting the bed and causing Ron to roll slightly towards her, as if turning to hear what she had to say. She couldn't help but smile at his goofy, contented-looking smile as he slept, as if the world where a place where good and evil didn't exist, as if he were still five and the world was just one big discovery after another. What was it the toy man, Mr. Nakasumi, had said…"Child-like wonder?" Well, that certainly described Ron.

"Ahh….termite sand…wich…" Ron mumbled, causing Kim to nearly face-fault.

'What the heck?' Kim thought to herself. She leaned over his unconscious form and stared hard at him, forgetting where she was for a moment. 'Look at his face…like an angel…' Without realizing it, her face was now barely an inch from Ron's; she could feel the breath from his nostrils rush over her lips…

**/-\\\\\/-\\\\\/-\\\\\/-\\\\\/-\\\\\/-\\\\\/-\\\\\**

Ron awoke feeling very good…very, very good. So good, in fact, that he did not recognize where he was. But that didn't bother him. He was quite warm, with that bone deep warmth that they always advertised on those _Campbell's Soup_ commercials…like the one with the snowman that turns out to be a little kid….

'Wait a sec.'

Something else was different. He felt heavier, like something was draped across his chest…something solid, but soft, like a pers…

Ron's eyes shot wide open as he glanced down at his body.

Kim Possible, best friend, teen hero, heartbreaker of millions, was draped across him like a prize-sash…or something out of a hip-hop video. Her hair had fallen partially in her face, only enhancing the _kawaii_ factor about 10-fold, and her arms were folded around his torso, which he didn't realize until he noticed his arms were in traction and she had simply pushed hers under the space beneath his. Oh, and her face was about two inches from his. He could smell her…like peaches…or vanilla…or both!

Ron could feel something emerging deep from within him, but before he could respond to it, Kim stirred, rubbing her face against his chest and hugging him tighter. Ron blushed furiously, trying to figure out what would be the best response to this situation. Then Kim opened her eyes.

**/-\\\\\/-\\\\\/-\\\\\/-\\\\\/-\\\\\/-\\\\\/-\\\\\**

Kim awoke to a smell she couldn't quite place - something between disinfectant, tacos and Smarty-mart Smell-smart deodorant. She rubbed her face into her bed, squeezing her pillow tightly…and felt something warm and much more solid than a pillow. She opened her eyes slowly.

"K-k-k-kim…"

Kim' eyes widened to find Ron lying beneath her, his eyes wide and his open arms looking more crucificial than relaxed. Her mind registered the situation in a little under a second, and she blushed furiously. His face appeared to be attempting to outmatch her tomato impression, and they stared at each for a few seconds, or a few hours, they didn't notice. Kim finally raised the courage to speak first.

"How long have you been awake Ron?"

Ron sighed, relieved at the end to the tension, saying, "I don't know…about 5 or 10 minutes." Suddenly she threw her arms around him, crying into his shoulder.

Ron was stunned. He'd never seen Kim cry like this. Heck, he'd never seen her cry since he'd known her save for twice - once on the first day they met and the other at her grandfather's funeral, and she'd been 7 at the time. Kim was always the strong one, Kim always knew what to do and never lost it, so Ron didn't know how exactly to help her. So he tried his best to comfort her with his arms still strung up like some sort of meat in a butcher shop.

"KP, I'm okay. It's all right. Look, I'm fine…ish" Kim sniffed and pulled away, trying to dry her eyes and regain her composure.

"You're right Ron…but you had us all worried. The doctors still don't know for sure what bit you." Ron smiled then grimaced as he felt his shoulder and chest flair in pain where Kim had laid. Kim noticed and quickly realized she must have laid on his injury.

"Oh Ron, I'm sorry."

Ron smiled again. "Don't worry about it KP. I feel fine now." Ron sat there for a moment and then, realizing something, blushed considerably….which is saying something since he'd done this trick about three times already, keeping the blood from rushing to other parts…

Kim saw his uncomfortable embarrassment and asked him what was wrong. Ron mumbled something under his breath, avoiding eye contact.

"What?" Kim asked.

Ron looked her in the eye. "Where are my clothes? I'm naked under this little gown thing." Kim then blushed as well, realizing that Ron was indeed naked except for the paper gown he was wearing. As Dr. Farnsworth once said, oh my…

"Ron, maybe I should go find the doctor and he can tell you what they know? And, uh, maybe get your pants back?" She smiled despite herself and slid off the edge of the bed to press the call button on the far wall. A nurse stopped by moments later and, seeing the patient awake and apparently feeling better, fetched the doctor a few seconds later.

**/-\\\\\/-\\\\\/-\\\\\/-\\\\\/-\\\\\/-\\\\\/-\\\\\**

"Ow…don't poke so hard Doc."

"…"

**/-\\\\\/-\\\\\/-\\\\\/-\\\\\/-\\\\\/-\\\\\/-\\\\\**

"Well Ron, we're just glad you're alright," Mr. Dr. Possible said with a chuckle. "Last time you were in the hospital, it was for your grappling hook injury."

There was a universal wincing at the mention of incident.

"What James is trying to say," interrupted Mrs. Dr. Possible, elbowing her husband in the side, "is you're just like family to us and it's good to know you're alright."

"Of course," Dr. James Possible said, rubbing his ribs with another short laugh. Ron sat across from the two of them at the dinner table, Kim to his left and Jim/Tim to his right, apparently attempting to launch the dinner into space at some point in the evening.

"No it's a particle accelerator! You can't use it to-"

"-accelerate the mass itself! I know that! You just have to adjust the-"

"Jim, Tim…" Mr. Dr. Possible started.

"…not at the table boys," finished Dr. Ann Possible with an air of having repeated this admonishment at least on a weekly basis for the last…13 years

"Sorry mom…" chorused the two in perfect harmony…before grabbing each other by the collars and rushing each other out of the room to finish the conversation. Ron laughed at their antics as Kim sighed and let her head fall into her hands.

"Well Mr. and Mrs. Dr. P, I'm just glad to be here! Plus, I got a cool scar to impress the ladies…" he raised is eye-brow and made what was apparently supposed to be a very smooth gesture, eliciting a smile from both Kim and Ann Possible and another chuckle from James.

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Darkness.

A room without decoration of any sort, without windows, chairs, desks, papers, nothing…save a lone case in the center. The case, roughly the size of Volkswagen beetle, was also black…but its darkness was still visible in the absolute blackness of the night, like a collapsed star in the emptiness of space.

The top portion of the case shifted slightly to the side, and a pale hand rose from within, the smooth, flawless skin seeming to shimmer in the void like pearl despite the complete absence of night. Like the darkness of the case, the luminescence of the pale hand defied all logic. The hand was followed by another which grasped the side of the lid and pushed it aside smoothly and easily; it gave a loud BANG as it fell from atop of the case and hit the floor hard, the lid seemingly immensely heavy despite the ease in which the recliner had pushed it off.

The two hands gripped the side of the case and a matching white face emerged slowly, like a child rising from sleep, and continued to rise until the entire figure floated several inches above the case. Floating silently forward, the figure extended its tall frame fully and gently settled down on the floor, making no noise as he (she/it?) did so. The eyes opened slowly and fluttered for a moment before closing again as the figure took a deep breath, deeper than any human being could ever take. Finally, the eyes opened again, and this time stayed open as a grin appeared on the young, smooth face.

"Finally…it begins…"


	3. New Ron?

**Chapter 3**

"Nervous about your first day back Ron?"

Kim and Ron shouldered their backpacks in the atrium of the Possible house. It had been tradition for as long as the two could remember that Ron would walk the few blocks to Kim's house and the two would walk to school together from there. Ron laughed in response to Kim's question.

"Why would I be nervous KP?" Kim gave him an odd look as he continued, "I was only bitten by a UBO." Kim raised an eyebrow.

"UB- what?" Ron smiled.

"Yeah. An Unidentified Biting Object!" Kim groaned at the terrible joke while Ron continued to grin the patented (pending) Ronness grin.

Kim allowed herself a small smile both from self-admonishment that she should have seen that coming and from relief to have her best friend back to normal (well, it's Ron but…normal for him). She would never admit she missed his corny humor. She covered by brushing off a piece of lint on her shirt and adjusting the straps of her backpack.

"Let's go…bye mom!" Kim called back over her shoulder. Ron, likewise, called out his farewell as they headed out the door.

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After Ron's release from the hospital the day before, things had resettled back into normalcy for he and Kim. After dinner last night, they had hung out in the living room watching Agony County reruns and, at Ron's insistence (and his playing of the "I'm-in-my-recovery-period" card), a wrestling match between Steel Toe and a new-comer, the Duke of Destruction. Ron had fallen asleep on the couch and, while he looked so peaceful lying there, Kim had a nagging suspicion that something was amiss in their revelry. They had not talked about Ron's injury since he had left the hospital and, though both the doctors and Ron had assured her that everything was fine, she could not shake the feeling that something had changed. Hmmm…

"Hey Kim, check out the crowd!" Kim looked up and noticed an unusually large number of loiterers outside the school. Of course all high schools have the "cool kids" who won't go into the building until it absolutely necessary (a.k.a. the tardy bell), but this…this was different.

Once Kim and Ron had reached the doors, half the school population greeted them outside, even the cheerleaders…except Bonnie of course. But she did refrain from calling him a loser, settling instead for "invalid."

"Hey Ron, good ta' see ya again!" called someone with whom Ron had never spoken to in his life.

"Welcome back Stoppable!" called Brick Flagg.

"Yo Stoppable, good to see you up and about," said Josh Mankey, clapping Ron on the back before continuing inside.

In classes, the teachers all personally welcomed him and excused him from the tests for the missed periods…before piling up the work he missed and had to make up. During 3rd period, Ron met Mr. Barkin for his first time back.

"Ladies and gentlemen, your physics teacher Mr. Sanchez is feeling a bit woozy from his vacation in Santa Fe. Apparently a bite from the famous Puking Lizard actually makes the victim expel their intestinal contents, not vice versa, so I'll be substituting until he returns fully hydrated and able to stand up without whistling his own theme music. Any questions?"

As usual, Mr. Barkin, the Vice-Principal/ex-marine/substitute teacher of all known school subjects, received no reply and it was understood that no one questioned that tone of voice.

"Oh, oh, I do Mr. Barkin!" Everyone except for Ron of course.

"Mr. Stoppable? It seems you've made a full recovery. Now what do you want?"

"I was just wondering, since I've missed several days of class and I see on the board we have a test today, could I be excused?"

Mr. Barkin raised an eyebrow and began to laugh loudly and obnoxiously before immediately stopping and answering, "No. We have covered no new material since you were out Stoppable and you are therefore completely qualified to take the exam."

Ron sighed and slid down in his seat. 'Same ol' same ol' I guess…' He heard giggling from the back of the class and turned to find a few girls laughing to themselves and then staring at him with an odd look on their face…sort of the look that Kim used to give Josh Mankey.

_Huh?_

Kim followed Ron's line of sight and noticed the look too and recognized it. For some reason, she grew greatly annoyed even as Ron blushed at the attention.

When the lunch bell ring he hurried and got in line, practically dragging Kim behind him.

"Whoa Ron, what's the rush?"

Ron turned to Kim, his voice as serious as she ever heard him speak and said, "I'm starving."

Kim gave him a quizzical look. "Ron," she began, with the same tone her mother used on the twins, "you're always starving." But Ron shook his head slowly as he stared at the food, his mouth watering.

"Not like this KP…It's weird. I made myself an 8 egg omelet this morning and almost half a pound of bacon," he continued, ignoring the incredulous expression on Kim's face, "and I feel like…like I haven't eaten in days. Weird."

Kim was about to comment that the incredible breakfast he had eaten was much weirder but Ron tuned out all sound when it was his turn to order. He approached the lunch lady like desert wanderer approaches an oasis.

"What do you have today?"

The lady stared at him with black soulless eyes and replied, "cubed steak with gravy, mashed potatoes, green bean surprise, pizza and gelatin for dessert," in a monotone that would make Ben Stein proud.

"Ron, tempted to ask what the surprise was but to hungry to even really care just said, "I'll take three steaks, pizza and…you know what? Just give me three of everything…please I mean."

Kim's eyes widened again and even further still when the lunch lady actually complied with the request…well, he only got one piece if pizza, but still...

Ron carried his conquest to the register, paid (ignoring the cashier's look of astonishment) and carried his meal to the nearest empty table to wait for Kim.

"Booyah!" Ron did a little victory dance on the way to his table. He never noticed the foot of Brick Flagg in his path. The big jock, with his size 15 feet stretched languidly out to the side of the table, did not realize the hindrance caused by his monolithic extremities until it was too late. Ron's foot caught on the large limb and he pitched forward with what was sure to be a phenomenal crash. Kim, just finishing paying turned to find Ron beginning his descent to the floor.

"Ron!"

Ron tossed his lunch tray straight into the air on the way down, then using one arm leaped straight up with a handspring landing on his feet and then caught his tray, all without spilling a single drop of gravy or a stray string bean. Then he turned quickly to Brick, oblivious to the astonished look upon his (and every other cafeteria resident's) face.

"Hey Brick, sorry about that. You alright?"

Brick just nodded and, satisfied, Ron sat himself down and began to make quick work of his kingly (or at least portly) feast.

"Did you see that!"

"Stoppable just caught himself, just like that!"

"Whoa!" Girls turned to stare in newfound admiration. Monique, who caught up quickly to Kim and noticed that Kim seemed upset by this.

"Girl, did you just see that!"

Kim just stared.

"How…did… Ron…"

Ron just scarfed his food down with the same enthusiasm a man in the desert might guzzle water and patted his stomach with pleasure after licking his finger of the last drop of gravy. Then he belched. "Ahhhh….booyah…" he sighed.

After lunch, Ron had P.E. along with Kim and Monique. Kim was surprised to find out that Ron was the top subject of discussion in the girls' locker room. Kim was also surprised to find that she minded…a lot. She slammed her locker shut a lot harder than she meant to, drawing stares from the other ladies, including Monique who sauntered over from the sink.

"You okay girl? You look tense," she whispered. Kim sighed and laced her shoes tighter.

"I don't know Monique…I guess I'm just worried about Ron…"

Monique's worried expression turned into a sly grin as she teasingly whispered, "Why? Because of all the attention he's getting from the ladies?"

Kim looked startled and stammered, "Of course not! He's just my best friend…boy friend…I mean guy friend, cause, you know, you're my best girl friend, but we're not dating or anything….aahh, what I mean is…you what I mean, right?"

Monique giggled and responded, "Chill girl, I'm just playin'. Man Kim, you are really flustered today."

Waiting for the boys to finish dressing out, they were _not_ surprised to find that Ron was the last one out. Finally, with 2 seconds to go before the tardy bell, Ron peeked around the corner.

"Hey coach Barkin! My clothes are missing!" A couple of guys laughed and slapped High Fives at this.

Mr. Barkin sighed. "Stoppable, you can't find any clothes back there? Check in the lost and found!"

**/-\\\\\/-\\\\\/-\\\\\/-\\\\\/-\\\\\/-\\\\\/-\\\\\**

"Aaaaaah! I can't wear this!"

Ron sauntered in slowly and the expected laughter was met with shocked silence.

Unable to find his usual, baggy gym clothes, Ron stood wearing a too-small tank, and a pair of sweat pants which had had one leg ripped off from the knee down, and the other leg was even shorter.

None of this was really new ground for Ron Stoppable, but what had stunned his audience to stillness was that his too-tight-tank showed off a torso that the Ron Stoppable must have stolen from a Greek hero. And his pants, or lack thereof, showed off the legs of an Olympic runner, with defined, hard muscle quivering beneath the skin. All in all,

After hearing no laughter, he sighed and took his place at the end of the line completely oblivious to the looks he was receiving from his peers - from the girls, shock and awe, and from the guys, admiration and unadulterated jealousy. Though Mr. Barkin noticed the obvious change in Ron's physique, he declined to comment.

"Alright ladies, First we're gonna' warm up with some laps around the gym. Give me 12 of 'em, now!" He blew his whistle of authority, the universal coaching aid for motivating sportsmen and high-schoolers alike.

They filed out and began to jog around the track, maintaining their little groups as they did. Kim and Monique wanted to go talk to Ron, but Barkin was old school and had the guys and girls warm up separately. Again, Kim noticed the groups of girls talking about Ron.

"Stoppable's so hot now, I just wanna' take home and…"

Kim's face flushed as she overheard one girl discuss exactly what she'd like to do to Ron. Monique was likewise flabbergasted, but for different reasons.

"Imagine, Ron, the sole source of a wave of debauchery the likes of which Middleton has never seen. What is going on around here?"

Kim, still shocked from the girl's graphic descriptions, silently jogged beside Monique, who continued ranting falling on deaf ears as her mind was filled with a torrent of thoughts. She glanced over to the men's track to fine Ron jogging alone, unsurprisingly, and lapping all of the other students, very surprisingly. Kim's eye brows set an altitude record upon her forehead and she turned her attention back to her own jogging.

After jogging, the teens were forced to line up again. Mr. Barkin walked up and down the line, seemingly to size them up.

"Okay ladies, today we're gonna have a game of softball. Gentlemen, you'll be playing touch football. Any questions? Okay, move and pick teams. Mankey, Flagg, you're team captains. Possible, Decartes, you're team captains. Let's hit the fields!"

Brick Flagg won the coin toss and smiled coolly as he scanned his available roster. His eyes and smile widened as he made his first choice.

"I'll choose Stoppable!"

Ron, used to being chosen even after Rob the Flob (so named for his enormous girth which, though a liability in aerobic sports such as basketball, apparently made him an ideal lineman in gym football), stood staring at the back of Kim's head from across the room, his heartbeat unconsciously fluttering at the site of her hefting the softball bats weight and rubbing her fingers along it to check for chips. His brow showed a light sheen of sweat as his mind wandered to…

"Stoppable, you're up!" Brick yelled at him, catching his attention and eliciting a chuckle from the other guys as they watch a flustered Ron respond with a "Me?" before solemnly walking up to stand beside Brick.

As the teams set out to the field, Brick took Ron aside.

"Look Stoppable, I don't know what you've been doing, but if you can do for me what you did in the Caf, I'll be in your debt dude."

Ron gave him an odd look before shrugging his shoulders. "What do you want me to do?" Past experiences led Ron to believe that the next few instructions might include the phrases "meat shield" and "body bag," but he couldn't hide his surprise when Brick said, "I want you as my running back. I'm gonna give you the ball and you make touchdowns. Can you do that?"

Now Ron, was not a very fast individual, nor often very coordinated (unless by accident via MMP), so this job had EPIC FAIL written all over it, in his blood no less. "You want me to do what?" Needless to say, the request was unexpected.

Brick shook his head. "Dude, I saw you in the food court and you moved like a monkey or something. I've never seen somebody move like that and, if you can do that again, they won't able to touch you."

Ron didn't hear much after the word "monkey" as his brain had locked up in horror. But, for some odd reason, he did not feel the extreme terror he normally felt around Simians and thoughts of them.

_Hmmmm…that was weird._

Brick took his silence as complacence and pat him on the back, nearly knocking Ron over with his big paw. Brick brought the others into a huddle and let loose with the plan.

"I'm popping the ball to Stoppable, you guys block for him."

Silence met with the announcement but since Brick said it, only the bravest dared to mutter anything darkly under their breaths. Ron on the other hand swallowed a lump in his throat and took his place beside Brick on the line. Brick, of course, was the quarterback and team captain for the actual football team at Middleton High so likewise, he was the also the quarterback in this game.

"R1, R1, hut-hike!"

Bricks huge hands found the ball easily and with graceful ease transferred the ball into Ron's unexpectant arms. He stood stock still for a moment as the world seemed to slow. He glanced up to find an adversary, probably somewhere in the ball park of 230 lbs bearing down on him (almost literally) with a killer look upon his face. The ball nearly slipped from Ron's sweaty palms, but then…His opponent slammed into him with the force of a small freight train. Ron flew through the air like a hacky sack kicked by a third grader, landing hard on his neck, his body crumpling slightly before he lay still and flat on the earth.

No one moved (aside from Danny Fantus who crossed himself, believing Stoppable to be dead and wanting to honor the unfortunate young man).

Kim, who'd looked up just in time from across the field, gave a stifled cry and ran towards the field, hoping against hope that Ron was still alive. Without warning, Ron's legs twitched once, twice and he jumped up to his feet, holding his head as the blood rushed to his toes at the sudden change of elevation.

"Whoa," Ron moaned with a hand still to his forehead, "THAT was a doozy…"

Mr. Barkin, who had missed the hit but had seen Ron on the ground rushed over, concern evident on his normally wooden features.

"Stoppable, are you okay?"

Ron nodded and jaws dropped as Ron made his way back to the line, still holding both his head and the ball, but a smile now on his face, the nervousness of a few minutes ago gone completely, replaced by this playful confidence in his eyes and the slowly spreading grin across slightly dirty visage. Brick swallowed slowly, then grinned as he turned to the other teammates.

"You see," he laughed, "Stoppable can sure take a hit, and I think he'll do better at actually running the ball this time, right Stoppable?" Ron gave another playful grin and replied.

"Sure broseph, but call me Ron."

Brick laughed again at Ron's change of personality and retorted, "Bro, you make us some touch downs and I'll call you whatever you want." He turned back to the teams, and ushered them back into formations. "Next play, ready? R2, R2, hut hut hike!"

Once again, Brick's large mitts cradled the ball and, with an underhand toss, lazily popped the ball to Ron, who caught it with expert ease this time. Cradling it gently under his arms, he turned to the gargantuan in front of him, leering like some sort mythological monster, perhaps the Cyclops…the creature muttered, "This time, I'll tear you a new asshole Stoppable, and not even your new buddy Brick will- "

He never finished his little rant.

Ron's eyes narrowed and took on a reddish hue as the world around him slowed to a crawl. He growled deep in his chest and cradled the ball to his chest like a mother with an infant. Bending low to the ground, he rushed forward with power and ferocity that Ron Stoppable, lovable goofball and side-kick, did not possess. He hit the grizzly-like lineman squarely in the gut with his shoulder, his low stance pushing him beneath the hulk's outstretched arms. Ron seemed to be completely unaware that a person even hindered his path as he carried the hulking mass of flesh and bone for nearly 10 yards on his shoulder before the behemoth fell off with a sickening "thud" head first in the dirt. Ron's shoes tore furrows in the ground as he race up the field leaving all other students quickly behind and looking for him. Ron crossed the field goal line and, as he turned, the red haze faded and his eyes grew once more into his own warm shade of cocoa and a playful grin graced his features once again as he tossed the football into the air with one hand and waved back to his teammates 50 yards or so back.

No one noticed the almost animal-like change in Ron's features for those brief seconds, but no one could miss the incredible power mustered up during Ron's "breakthrough," and its effects (clearly seen by the former lineman's head half buried in the turf where Ron had left him).

Kim and Monique, who had been looking on with increasing nervousness, (along with the rest of the girls) had to collectively reattach their jaws as they witnessed the animal-like intensity of Ron's attack on the defensive lineman.

Monique broke the silence.

"Dang…looks like we ain't got to worry about Ron anymore…he can take care of himself."

Kim just stared.

Kim and Monique, along with the other ladies on the field, stared at Ron the rest of the time, watching his amazing agility and prowess on the field and marveling at the ease at which it seemed to come to him. Likewise, his fellow teammates and opponents couldn't help but reevaluate Ron's status in…well…everything. He was the new Big Deal and officially the baddest dude in school - no more screwing around with Stoppable, because you could end up like the former lineman Terry Durtan (who remained in the hospital for the rest of the day and the next due to a mild concussion and several bruised ribs).

Mr. Barkin wrapped up the games a little early after assuring that Mr. Durtan was indeed going to live and that his parents were notified and not hysterical. In the locker room, Ron was lauded by his fellow team members and opponents alike, both for scoring around 11 touchdowns within the 10 or so minutes after the first and taking out that (apparently) "Terry 'the Dick' Durtan" (named so for his attitude and not any natural endowments that he may or may not have possessed).

Needless to say, Ron was riding a little high when he left the locker room and his new buddies behind to go to Bueno Nacho after school. Kim and Monique, who changed quickly (Monique to catch to Ron and give him the third degree and Kim to avoid the explicit desires towards Ron voiced by the female half of the class and the snide remarks from Bonnie about her "boyfriends" new availability).

"…but still Kim, you didn't have to rat-tail her like that…now she's gonna' definitely be after blood."

Kim sighed as they ran around the corner, catching sight of Ron exiting the building, turning to Monique. "You heard her! She's, just, such a…a bitch sometimes, you know?"

Monique cocked an eyebrow and smirked.

"Sometimes?"

Kim and Monique caught up with Ron about 100 yards out of the school and Monique, with her big mouth shouted "Ron! Wait up!" Ron turned in surprise, his eyes lighting up upon catching sight of them.

"Oh yeah, hey Kim, Monique…I knew something was missing. Sorry, I was just so hungry that I, uh, forgot about you guys…" At that moment, Ron's stomach decided to growl in protest of its internal vacancy and startled the girls quite a bit with its volume. Ron blushed and patted his stomach nervously. But Monique wasn't going to let this throw her off.

"Ron, just tell me this? When did you get so…so…" words failed her as she simply gestured to Ron's body in a vague 'just look at yourself' type gesture.

Kim threw her a look, but turned back to hear Ron's explanation. Though she disliked Monique straight-forwardness in asking the question, she too was curious to hear the answer. Ron, again, looked puzzled.

"What are you talking about Monique?"

Kim and Monique gave him the 'wtf' look and Monique replied, or rather shouted, "Look at yourself! Haven't you looked at yourself in the mirror today? What about when you took a shower this morning?"

Ron look sheepish. "Actually, I overslept a little and didn't have time to shower." He patted his stomach again as his stomach growled, then paused a moment and glanced down.

His eyes got huge and he rubbed his stomach a few more seconds before lifting his shirt tentatively.

"What the heck?"

Kim and Monique stared as the rising hem of Ron's shirt revealed the deeply-ridged contours of his abdominal muscles, looking like some sort of perfect anatomical model with the skin still attached. He lifted it a little higher and traced his stomach muscles to his lower pectoral and froze as he saw the still bright-pink ridge of the scar across his upper stomach and chest. Kim, without realizing it, had moved closer until she was within reaching distance of Ron and, tentatively, raised a single finger and traced the scar lightly, starting from the bottom. Ron, who grew silent, shivered as every hair on his body stood on end and Monique couldn't help but smile a little as she witnessed the apparent ecstasy upon his features and the nervous flush upon Kim's.

Kim, finally realizing what she was doing, quickly withdrew her hand and appeared quite flustered, stammering, "Oh, uh, sorry I just…it looks so painful, I uh…" she trailed off and continued to blush much to Monique's enjoyment.

Ron, who finally recovered after a second, quickly replied, "Oh, no problem…um…are you guys coming to Bueno Nacho?"

Kim, still in a daze, was rescued when Monique replied, "Oh you go on ahead and we'll catch up. I've, uh…gotta' pick up something from my house."

As Ron continued on, Monique smiled at Kim who continued to stare after Ron blushing furiously. _This will be fun…_she laughed to herself. _But wait, Ron still didn't explain…dang it!_


	4. Drakken Gets New Pants

**Chapter 4**

Kim rested her head against the glass doors of Bueno Nacho for a moment, trying to calm herself and ease her racing heart.

'It's just Ron, my best friend, and it's just Bueno Nacho, the greasiest of all the greasy spoons…' she sighed to herself, 'no need to get so worked up about it. I mean, just because he's like the sweetest guy in the world AND the hottest piece of – '

She blinked hard. Where had that come from? She felt her cheeks blazing, as if everyone within a thirty foot radius could hear her thoughts.

= flashback ten minutes ago =

"Look girl, I got eyes and I can see it…you're crushin' on Ron!"

Kim sputtered in protest as Monique continued her accusation.

"I had thought that this might happen, but I didn't count on Ron becoming such a stud so soon…I figured it would take until at least college…"

Kim shook her head again, stammering, "W-what are you talking about Monique? There's nothing between me and Ron – I mean, he's my best friend and-"

"-you were ogling him like a piece of filet mignon cooked medium rare," Monique finished with a smirk on her face, her eyes twinkling mischievously.

Kim's face defied all rules of nature and physics and blushed an even darker shade of red than earlier and continued her protest unheeded, "-and nothing can change that!"

Monique's face turned serious and she pulled Kim into a nearby archway to pull her out of pedestrian traffic filtering around them. She laid a hand on Kim's shoulder and sighed before saying," Kim, just because you guys have a relationship doesn't mean you can't be best friends anymore. If you guys get together, it wouldn't stop him from being your best friend and you his. In fact, I personally always thought you were made for each other, but I figured it would take a while for you to figure it out. I mean, let's face it, Ron's not the most sophisticated guy on the planet, nor was he the hottest (at least until about 24 hrs ago…), but Ron makes up for any of those faults a hundred times over with his genuine heart and his loyalty and, well, I've always thought he was kind of cute too, but in a 'funny white boy' way, you know?"

Kim smiled a little at the last comment, but leaned back against the archway in deep thought about the rest of the discussion, a single tear glistening in the corner of her eye…

= present time =

Kim raised a hand and pushed it against the glass, watching Ron order. What happened to Ron the lovable and goofy sidekick? I mean, he's still Ron but…

At that moment, a customer walked out and the automatic glass doors opened, allowing Kim to experience a test in Bueno Nacho's gravity value. She caught herself before hitting the ground and glanced around sheepishly, embarrassed out of her mind. Luckily, no one seemed to notice.

"…and a large double grande meal with extra Diablo sauce. You got all that Ned?"

Kim strolled up and glanced over Ron's shoulder, catching the total on the register. Her eyes popped. Even if it was Ron, how could he possibly eat nearly two weeks' allowance worth of Bueno Nacho…or anything really?

"Oh, and Ned, don't forget my 10% discount…oh hey KP," Ron said, turning around swiftly while reaching into his back pocket for his wallet, "where's Monique?" He plopped down a $10 bill on the counter and picked up the steaming bags set before him by Ned and a burly employee named "Chuckles" according to his name tag. He proceeded to walk over to the nearest booth, shouting over his back, "thanks Ted, Chuckles. Keep the change!"

Kim followed him, confused. She sat down across from him and tried to make sense of what had just happened.

"Wait, what? How'd you do that? That was like 2 pairs of Club Banana jeans worth of food, so how'd you get it for ten…or less?"

Ron began pulling out taco after naco after taco as he explained, "Well, a while back, after the naco royalties incident, they made me another offer shortly after that. I could either continue to collect royalty checks for the product, or I could sell it to them in exchange for a discount at all Bueno Nacho-owned businesses and those owned by their partners."

"But Ron," Kim started as she watched Ron literally inhale a taco up his nose, "how does 10% off make up for anything close to what you were making in naco sales? And why'd you sell it for a discount anyway? You could put the money away somewhere or…"

Ron wiped his mouth and interjected, "…or I could be stupid and lose it all again KP. I can't trust myself with that kind of money. Besides, it's not a 10% off discount. I only PAY 10% for everything. They mark it off as some sort of tax credit thing and the company and I both come out on top. It's pretty awesome actually. Plus, since they've become such a success, they've conglomerated as a business and are currently in the process of acquiring an electronics firm, a sporting goods chain…" Ron trailed off as he bit into a naco, squeezing cheese sauce out of the opposite end, landing on Kim's outstretched hand, causing her to gasp.

"Oops, sorry about that KP," Ron laughed as he reached for her hand, leaned forward and licked the cheese off of her index and middle finger. Kim shuttered as she watched his tongue glide over the back of her digits and delve slightly into the junction between, scooping the last bit of cheese. He pulled her hand a little closer and sucked her fingers gently before wiping them off with his thumb for good measure. Kim lost feeling in her legs as Ron continued as if nothing has happened, "…and since the discount runs at all of these stores, I'm getting all kinds of goodies at very little out of pocket cost. In fact, I'm pretty sure they are also looking at a realty corporation. If so, when I buy a house and the land it's built on from THAT company, it'll also be 90% THAT cost. So yeah, it's pretty boss."

Kim, still in shock from the tongue bath and feeling very warm, couldn't muster up a coherent response. Instead, she resigned herself to staring at Ron open-mouthed as he devoured the trays' contents swiftly and without mercy. She stared at his roughened chin as his jaws worked their magic, noticing for the first time the hints of a beard upon Ron's boyish visage. No, even his cheeks had lost some of their pinch-ability. His face seemed leaner and more…wolfish, but his eyes…his eyes were the same. The kind of eyes that seemed to understand the world and what it is was, yet still found humor in day to day life.

"-ything KP?"

Kim should her dazed mind and pulled her attention back to reality where Ron had apparently just asked her something.

"Uh, sorry Ron I was…uh…thinking…"

Ron's smile widened and Kim couldn't help but smile at the cheese strand hanging from the corner of his mouth.

"I said 'are you sure you don't want anything KP?' My treat!"

Kim shook her head. "No thanks, I'm good. Besides, you know what that kind of food does to a complexion."

Ron laughed.

"No zit would dare set an oily foot on YOUR face KP. It would be like signing its own death warrant."

Kim blushed again, a habit she was beginning to realize was becoming more and more frequent. Just then, her Kimunicator went off. 'Whew…saved by the beep,' she thought, reaching into her pocket.

She opened it up to reveal a small screen featuring a young African-American boy typing away at his computer. This was none other than Wade…the Genius and Gadget-maker of "Team Possible." She smiled broadly.

"Hey Wade!"

"Hey Kim," he said with a wide grin, typing away on his keyboard, "just checking on you guys to see how Ron's doin'."

Ron looked up with half a taco lodged in his mouth.

"Igh daf waghd? Hagh ig goung?"

Wade smiled back and laughed, "It's going great! By the way, congrats on getting out of the hospital so quickly, Ron. I heard it was a doozy."

Ron merely nodded as he swallowed the rest of the taco and grabbed another, the pile of empty wrappers growing into a scalable mountain by the minute. Kim stared at it for a moment before turning her attention back to the device.

"So what's the sitch?"

Wade smiled quickly, then furrowed his brow in concentration as he continued to type away on his computer, the clacking keys sounding like a low hum over the Kimunicator speakers. Memos and maps popped up in the sidebar as Wade explained.

"Well Kim, it seems that's Drakken is at it again with 'Operation Catastrophic Doom.' He's stolen a 52 Terawatt Mass-Energy Converter and another Photon Cannon from Psyton Labs and, well, you know the drill."

Ron pushed the final South-western treat down his gullet and asked, "52 Pterodactyls did what?"

Kim groaned as Wade asked him to repeat his question saying, "Terawatt Ron, not a dinosaur. It's basically a big, powerful battery for another Ray-gun."

Ron wiped his mouth. "Oh wait, the Ray-gun and mosquito-population plan? The one where I lost my naco-money last time?"

Kim laughed as Wade answered, "Yeah, I forgot about that one. Boy, that sucked…"

Ron leaped up from his seat.

"Then there's no time to waste…to the Ferret-mobile!"

He smiled sheepishly at Kim. "I've always wanted to say that…I'll see you outside KP!" He grabbed his trash and carried it over to the bins carefully, then burst through the front doors with some sort of pseudo-ninja maneuver.

Kim smiled and turned back to Wade.

"So, what have you got for us in the transportation category?"

Wade went back to typing furiously as he said, "I'm sending the rest of the data now and Terry Hopkins, the daredevil pilot you rescued from the Hurricane incident, will be picking you up in 8 minutes."

Kim nodded.

"You continue to rock Wade. By the way…any information on those bite marks?"

Wade shook his head.

"But I'll keep you posted. Bye Kim, say bye to Ron for me!"

Kim replaced the Kimunicator in her pocket and followed Ron through the door, minus the fake-kung-fu.

"Ah Kim, come on…you have to do some sort of 'Booya!' move…"

"Ron…come on…"

**/-\\\\\/-\\\\\/-\\\\\/-\\\\\/-\\\\\/-\\\\\/-\\\\\**

"Thanks again Ms. Possible for saving my plane during Hurricane Vivian," the blond pilot shouted above the roaring propellers.

Kim laughed.

"No big Mr. Hopkins…anyone could pilot a plane in and out of a level 3 hurricane in 120 mph. winds."

She and Ron grabbed their packs and leaped from the plane into the night air. The island below them was just like every other Drakken lair…dark, gloomy, a stereotype of villains' hideouts. The beauty of the setting sun strongly contrasted the grimy-looking towers.

As she landed, she noticed Ron had actually landed, not only before her, but without dropping his pants, or even tripping over himself. She also noticed that his cargo pants and black shirt seemed to fit better and, as she caught up from behind him, caught herself staring at various parts of his person. She ran a hand through her hair, trying to calm her heartbeat down. _Head in the game, Kim…no time for distractions._

Suddenly, a thought occurred to Kim.

"Hey Ron…where's Rufus?" Ron raised his eyebrows.

"Oh yeah…I forgot to tell you. He's at spa/resort relaxing for the next 2 weeks."

Kim sweat-dropped. "They make spas for naked mole rats?"

"Of course!"

Kim tried to imagine a spa/resort filled with naked rodents, then promptly shook the image out of her head.

"Never mind. We've got to focus on Drakken."

Ron smiled. "Always ready and willing KP. Time to go save the world!"

Kim smiled. "So not the drama Ron. We've just got to sneak in and stop Drakken before he knows we're there. Got it?"

Ron nodded and, with an expression of utmost seriousness, said, "Yeah, let's go kick some bad-guy booty."

Kim sighed. Even "new" Ron still made goofy comments. Oh well…at least he'd definitely recovered.

They crept up to the tower through the leafy underbrush, Kim's silent graced matched surprisingly by Ron's own. She kept having to turn back to make sure he was still behind her, since she was so used the sounds of tripping, griping and shrieks of 'that's a huge bug!'

At the base of the tower, Kim retrieved her hairdryer/grappling hook and fired…to no avail.

"Darn it…" Kim muttered, "I thought that Wade had fixed that already."

Ron stepped up behind her.

"I'm on it KP," he whispered as he retrieved his own and fired expertly to the top of the wall, snagging the metal safety rails at the top. He quickly tugged, making sure the line was secure, and put an arm around Kim's waist.

"Here we go…Ron elevator going up…" he laughed as he retracted the line, holding Kim tightly to his chest.

Kim, on the other hand, fought back a blush and accompanying thoughts as she held him tightly for fear of falling…or so she told herself.

"You know Kim, I never understood this…" Ron started as they reached the roof, allowing her to climb up before pulling himself up. He continued, "…but why would a villain put safety rails at the top of their evil lair? Wouldn't they WANT people to fall off, being a villain and all?"

Kim, stared at Ron, the rails and then Ron again, slightly flabbergasted.

"I never really thought about that…"

Ron laughed. "Maybe it's a plot device?"

Kim raised an eyebrow. "A what?"

"Nevermind KP, let's continue the ninja-stuff."

Kim shrugged and pulled out her laser-lipstick and cut a hole in the ceiling, just big enough for the two of them to slip through. The piece of metal however, slipped from her grip and plummeted down. Before she could cry out, Ron dove in and snatched it out of the air, hanging from the hole's edge with his feet. His shirt fell up ever his head, revealing his torso again to Kim's eyes. One again, she felt the rush of blood to her face. She helped him back up through.

"Thanks Ron…that would've given us away for sure," she said with relief.

He grinned.

"No prob KP."

They secured their ropes to a pipe ("another plot device," Ron quipped as Kim gave him another odd look), and after testing for sturdiness, climbed down into the "belly of the beast".

They made their way quickly and quietly through the hallways, already familiar with Drakken's design of evil lairs. They neared the "main" chamber, where they could hear Drakken's voice below, amplified by some sort of PA sytem.

"…and so, my minions, once the mosquito population increases, there will be an increase in OFF! Stocks. As we rake in the incredible profits from our stock shares, we will then have the capital to…"

Kim swung into the room, landing perfectly as usual.

"Not so fast Drakken!"

He twirled around in his swivel chair, collapsing out of it in an incredible feat of uncoordination.

"Kim Possibl-ahh! Blast it!"

Shego, standing beside him, shot him a look of utmost annoyance as he struggled to free himself from the chair.

"Why are you so surprised every time she shows up?"

Drakken stopped, scratching his head, and then dismissed the thought.

"Shego, just take care of Kim Possible! I'll handle the Buffoon!"

The green, jumpsuit-clad, nail-filing vixen shrugged and stepped forward, hands ablaze.

"Happy to Dr. D…as soon as you sign my paycheck!"

Drakken whirled around, lowering his voice.

"Please Shego…I'm in the middle of ranting. Can't we discuss this later!"

Shego sighed in annoyance.

"Fine, but I want a raise."

Drakken stammered, "A raise? Why are we discuss- alright, alright! A two percent raise…"

Shego doused her hands and placed them on her hips in annoyance.

"No way Dr. D, make it twenty!"

Drakken clutched his heart. "Twenty? I-I-I can't aff- alright…five percent, and that's my offer."

"Twelve percent" Shego countered.

"Alright fine! Just take care of Kim Possible now!"

Shego leaped at Kim with a whir of green fire and the two of them collided, a blur of green, red, arms, and legs. Drakken turned back to Ron, rubbing his hands maniacally.

"So, um…your name escapes me…ah whatever…where are your huge wads of cash, hmmm? Mha ha ha ha ha…"

Ron countered, "Oh yeah? Well your face is, uh, blue!"

Drakken stopped.

"Well, yes I suppose it is…well your mother is extreme in her girth!"

Ron cocked his head.

"Do what now?"

Drakken sighed and ran a hand slowly down his face in annoyance.

"Your mother is really, really fat!"

Ron started to reply, but then something caught his eye. Outside the window, he could see the moon, a perfect pearl in a velvet sky.

*Gasp*

His eyes widened and his pulse quickened. His breath caught in his throat as he stood, transfixed and unable to move.

Drakken followed his gaze, wondering what in the world the sidekick was staring at for so long. The moon? He turned back to Ron.

"What are you staring at-ah?"

Ron's eyes had turned red…blood red, and his body shook as tremors rocked his body. A growl started low in his throat as his legs coiled beneath him, his shoulders squared as he aimed himself at the not-so-good doctor.

Drakken backed away in fear.

"S-s-she-go!" he squealed. Kim and Shego turned to look at what was going on.

"What's wrong Dr. D.? I'm a little busy at the moment!" she yelled, blocking a kick from Kim.

"The buffoon! He-he's gone crazy!" Drakken screamed as Ron launched himself across the room, clearing the distance between them in an instant, and grasped Drakken's neck tightly in his gnarled fists. Drakken gave a squeal of fright as he looked into Ron's eyes. Blood red…anger….rage…Ron picked Drakken up off the ground by his neck, his feet dangling and kicking.

Kim and Shego stared in horror as Ron strangled Drakken.

"I told you…" Ron whispered, his grip tightening, his pupils lost in the blood-red glow of his eyes. "My name…is Ron Stoppable!"


	5. When the Bough Breaks

Hi guys, I am still alive and I'd like to thank Shockwave88 and the rest of you for responding and reviewing the piece. I hope you guys enjoy the revised work and, hopefully it'll be finished by this summer. Let me know what you all think (I thrive on criticism) and let me know if you feel the characters are OCC or not. I try to keep the characters within their ovals of truthiness...

Once again, I don't own Kim Possible, no money is made, blah bah blah...okay, here we go!

* * *

Drakken kicked and screamed, his "weak sauce" no match for the inhuman power of Ron's tightening his grip. His horror intensified as he watched Ron's incisors lengthen and sharpen, as well as the remainder of his teeth. Ron's face darkened with both shadows and hair growth as his face grew more gaunt and dark roots of hair sprang forth slowly. His arms, while before toned as well as any athlete's, rippled visibly as thick cords of muscle seemed to spring from within, his veins bulging to bring oxygen-rich blood back into these swelling muscles. Likewise, Ron's chest and back swelled and his shirt split right at the seams, his torso also showing signs of increased muscle tissue and darkening body hair. As his face grew thinner, Ron's hair grew faster until it was nearly at his shoulders, filling in a thick mane which began to darken as well, turning from golden to ebony in seconds.

Ron released a roar of pain as his very bones shifted, grew and twisted within him, his legs nearly buckling as they not only supported the new weight of his immense upper body, but his joints rearranged themselves. He staggered lightly but raised his prey higher above his head, even as his body continued to increase in size.

As he began slipping from the conscious-plane in his oxygen-deprived and frantic state, Drakken began to regret not following his mother's advice and becoming a dentist…

Ron's mind was lost in a sea of red. Completely unaware of his physical alterations, all he could think or remember was every single cruel remark or action committed against him. All the bullying, the taunting, all the scorning remarks, all the hate built up inside him, like the swelling of the tide against a dam. The only difference was, if this dam broke, Ron Stoppable would be no more. He would be replaced by something… something vengeful…something ancient…something dark.

"Ron!"

A voice broke through the haze. The darkness began to recede, the hate and anger washing away by the clear, angelic voice.

"RON!"

Intense pain ripped across his chest, and then the darkness of slumber claimed him…

* * *

Kim dodged another of Shego's attacks falling back into the rhythmic timing that Shego and her fights always seemed to possess. A swift jab here (blocked of course), a dodge to the left, a sweep to the legs (also dodged), a metrical exercise in futility of course: Ron would in inadvertently break whatever the doomsday device happened to be, Shego would be momentarily distracted by Drakken's cries of vengeance and 'You're not all that's and Kim would manage to knock Shego away in time to grab Ron and skedaddle. Of course Shego and Drakken would get away to commit more of the same crimes and Kim and Ron would stop them again…

But back to the fight at hand.

"So Princess, it looks like your boyfriend's finally hit puberty and manned up! How nice…" Shego took another glance back at Ron adding a "very nice" to her previous statement.

Kim's face burned as she narrowed her eyes and applied a swift axe kick towards Shego's shoulder, relishing victory as Shego grabbed her leg as Kim hoped she would. Maneuvering quickly, Kim kicked her opposing leg up, bring her center of gravity closer to her shoulders and wrapped Shego's head swiftly between her ankles and, grabbing Shego's leg with one hand and pivoting her body on the other, twisted herself violently to the floor, bring a surprised Shego down with a yelp.

Shego wasn't down and out however, as she caught herself and rolled out of Kim's leg lock, using her momentum to leap off up onto and off of a wall. With a burst of plasma, Shego sprung quickly back at Kim, a living, high energy missile.

"S-s-she-go!"

Drakken's cry did not sound like the cry of outrage and "come hither for we shall fight another day" indignation that she had come to expect out of these situations. Rather, it was more akin to the voice he used when announcing that his "mommy" was coming for a visit. Shego's concentration was thrown slightly off by the outburst and she only just caught Kim's leg coming up for a strike.

"What's wrong Dr. D.? I'm a little busy at the moment!" she yelled, blocking a kick from Kim and rebounding again back from the ground, this time flipping back onto her feet.

"The buffoon! He-he's gone crazy!"

Shego sighed and turned back to analyze the situation behind her.

Ron Stoppable was nowhere to be seen. Instead, a massive dark figure covered in what looked to be shredded cloth and hair stood convulsing with Drakken's comparatively tiny head peaking out of the creature's massive claws.

Shego's eyes grew wide with horror as the creature continued growing as she watched, the hair/fur thickening as the muscles throbbed and twisted, lengthening and pulsing right before her eyes like the entwining of serpents within some pit.

"I told you…my name…is Ron Stoppable!"

Shego felt the floor fall out from under her…or at least that's how it felt to her. All reality washed away around her as she processed that barely intelligible growl. Though seemingly whispered, the deepness of the tone and incredibly increased lung capacity apparently projected his (Ron Stoppable's?!) voice clearly across the cavernous room.

* * *

Kim stared in wide-eyed shock. Sure she'd defeated rabid golfers, stopped bored multimillionaires, trounced girl-friend androids and even managed to routinely screw up Drakken and Shego on a regular basis, but this…this incredible creature didn't even begin to lie in the normal-o-meter. And where had Ron disappeared to? She braced herself to launch at Shego's undefended back and take her out while she was distracted.

"I told you…my name…is Ron Stoppable!"

Kim had just been about to leap as her brain registered that barking declaration; as she was, she fell into a tangle and struggled to recover and wrap her mind around what she had just heard. Doing a double take back at the monster, she realized that she had, on some subconscious level, recognized Ron's voice somewhere in that rumbling speech. She stared in horror as Ron's grip on Drakken seemed to tighten and the fidgeting blue-skinned physician lay limp in his captor's claws. Kim panicked as she realized that Drakken could very well die if she did not intervene. She he was a villain, but he was a human and, even through all of their fighting and the threats, had she ever truly come close to dying? Even though Shego had plasma power which could melt through steel and iron (surely much more effective on live tissue…like Kim for instance), had Shego ever actually utilized this power on her?

"Ron!"

Kim's heart sank as her cry seemed to have no effect.

Suddenly, Shego raced forward, her plasma powers in full affect as she frantically sped to the soon-to-be-homicide scene to save the mad doctor. Kim cried out even louder, trying to alert Ron to the danger approaching him.

"RON!"

This time, the creature stopped and looked down from his aloft prey. However, his reaction was too late as a flash of green energy tore into his body, knocking him off of his feet and releasing his adversary to the ground. Shego quickly grabbed the dead-weight doctor and fled quickly, leaving the creature as far behind as inhumanly possible. Kim ran to Ron's side, panic filling her heart as she watched the creature shrink from her eyes to once again become her lovable sidekick. Panic turned to relief as she realized that he was still breathing. The shaky rise and fall of his chest, albeit disconcerting, was at least regular.

'No', she thought, 'not sidekick…partner. But what's happening to you Ron?' she slowed down her pace and she maneuvered through the machines and finally reached Ron.

Reaching his side, she stifled a scream at the ragged tears in his chest, which looked to have been cauterized shut by the heat or power of Shego's plasma. Her hand shaking furiously, she reached into her pocket for her Kimunicator and dialed Wade…

* * *

Ron awoke to muffled voices. He bolted upright in bed, glancing quickly around the room before recognizing his own room. He then realized he was not wearing a shirt, yet he still retained his mission pants. However, rips had been torn in them from just below the hip nearly to the knee.

'Huh, it must have happened during the mission…'

In fact, he didn't really remember the mission very well. He rubbed his head, groaning loudly. 'Something about Drakken, mosquitoes and…wow my head hurts…'

All he distinctly remembered was something large and white filling his vision…

He looked over at his clock and let out another groan. 7:13 AM. He'd better get ready for school.

He opened his door to the sound of stifled sobs around the corner and a "We've done all we can do. All we can do now is pray…"

Reaching the living room, he found his mother and father and a man in a black suit with a stethoscope around his neck and a hat in his hands. His mom and dad looked upset and his mother was crying. The man in black ('a doctor I suppose' induced Ron) had his back to Ron at an angle, but turned around as though sensing Ron's presence. His parents looked up when he entered the room, surprise written clearly on all their faces.

His mom rushed forward first.

"Oh Ron…you're okay!" She wrapped her arms around him, burying her face in his shoulder, crying loudly as Ron's father walked over to his mother's side and placed his hand on Ron's shoulder.

"Glad to see you're alright son."

Ron looked up. "What's going on?"

His father and the suit guy looked at each other, relief on both their faces. His father spoke up first, wiping unshed tears from his eyes.

"This man here is Doctor Stimpus. Kim brought you in last night in tears by helicopter to the Middleton Emergency clinic..."

At this, Dr. Stimpus picked up with, "However, after examining the wound across your chest and taking your vitals, no one knew what to do about your 'wound,' if you could even call it that. Your vitals showed up normal and, unlike with the animal bite on your last visit to the center, there was no blood from the wound. The gashes had already been cauterized and…well, the best thing to do was bring you home to rest since your vitals were normal and, other than the odd scarring left by your injury, there was no room in the clinic for anyone not in immediate danger."

Ron nodded in understanding, but then asked, "If I'm going to be fine, why are you here now?"

The man shook Ron's hand, smiling. "I've taken a personal interest in your case Mr. Stoppable. I've never seen anything like it …the wound should have been quite serious." He smoothed his hair. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you weren't even human."

Ron's eyes widened in surprise. "Why would you say that!"

The Doctor fixed his glasses.

"Well, for one, you're still alive. That wound went straight into your chest cavity! Secondly, you healed OVERNIGHT…the wound left no scar…"

Ron quickly checked down at his chest, and then realized that he couldn't see anyway since his mother still held tightly to him. The doctor continued.

"It's truly remarkable. If you don't mind Mr. Stoppable, I would like to take a sample of your blood to my lab for further study. It could be crucial to the revolution of medicine and human recovery agents in general."

Ron's dad' eyebrows shot up into his receding hair-line. "Take my son's blood? No way!"

The doctor looked annoyed. "Actually, I was talking to your son."

Ron scratched his head. "Well, actually sir, I kinda…don't like needles."

The doctor looked like he'd been denied a wonderful treat, but he quickly recovered and laughed. "Well to tell you the truth son, I don't either. Oh well…it was very nice meeting all of you. I must depart now. My colleagues at the lab are currently working on a new project and they need me. Bye." He picked up his bag and left.

* * *

Ron went and took a shower, wondering why he felt so alive and full of energy. As the hot water cascaded down his shoulders and back, he felt…different. He took in a deep breath and realized that his shower stank. Really, really stank. Like body odor to the max stink…or maybe like a wet dog. 'When I got home today, I really need to clean this place up,' he thought, stifling a gag.

He left his shower after scrubbing himself down twice to rid all smell from himself and shook himself dry, marveling at how much water he was able to remove with just a simple shake. He quickly changed clothes and, grabbing his bag on the way out, ran to Kim's house (arriving faster than usual, but he didn't really notice since, hey, he's Ron).

He knocked on the door and was greeted by Kim's mom throwing open the door and wrapping her arms around him very much like his own mother. Heck, this was Mrs. Doctor P…she was like his second mom.

She wiped her tears away with her hand. "I heard what happened. I'm so glad you're okay." She shook her head. "I can't believe that 'Shego' woman did that to you!"

Ron smiled at her. "Hey, no prob Doctor Mrs. P…not even a scar," he said, lifting up his shirt, "see?"

She glanced, then did a double-take. "Ron," she said, a sly grin on her face, "have you been working out?"

Ron blushed, quickly pushing his shirt back down. "No ma'am."

Kim's mom walked away, the smile still plastered to her face. She yelled upstairs, "Kimmie, Ron's here!" She turned and looked at Ron. "You can go on up…but I'm trusting you two to behave."

Ron nodded quickly, then bolted upstairs, red as a tomato. He was used to Mr. Possible acting that way, especially when the subject of Kim's social life came up, but Mrs. Possible take on the whole, no-physical-contact-until-marriage thing was simply 'if you wouldn't do it in front of your own mother…'

As he walked upstairs he could hear Kim's father talking to Kim's mom.

"So did you see the moon last night? Almost completely full, and the full moon's tomorrow night! We've been studying the moon's effects on earth…for launch purposes."


	6. Heat

**Chapter 6**

As Ron made his way upstairs to Kim's room, he was "attacked" by the tweebs, Jim and Tim. As they laughed, wrestled, and generally played around their friend and wrestling-watching compatriot, they quickly lost interest, and ran off to launch something into orbit.

'Iswear,' Ron thought to himself, 'those two are totally ADHD!'

Brain still spinning from the whirlwind that was Jim and Tim, he stumbled over to the hallway wall, shaking his head to clear the mild adrenaline surge associated with their antics. Refocusing himself, he glanced up and noticed the pictures on the wall. Ordered chronologically from the end of the hallway toward Kim's room, the Possibles set up all of their family photos this way, oldest to newest.

While group and family event photos graced their living rooms and kitchen (higher traffic areas), the personal photos of the individual Possibles (or in the case of Jim and Tim, the two of them) lined the walls of their hallways leading towards their rooms, almost like preparing a visitor for the changes they had endured over the courses of their lives. For instance, at the far end of the hallway were Kim's baby pictures (not the embarrassing "bubble-butt" pictures, but they were sufficiently embarrassing enough for their subject for Kim to avidly avoid allowing visitors to see that end of the hallway).

The first was taken at the hospital where Kim was laying within her bassinet. She had been tenderly wrapped up in one of those soft color-coded baby blankets, and within this comforting and gentle cocoon, she slumbered away seemingly without a care or worry in the world. Ron's heart skipped a beat as he recognized the look of pure and angelic innocence that was gracing itself upon her sweet, infant face...it was the same look of innocence that Kim had somehow managed to maintain for all of these years as she grew up. A face of such peace and tranquility, that only the most angelic of beings would hope to match it.

The next picture was of Kim riding a pony with her father walking proudly beside her, looking for all the world like he'd just been offered permanent tenure and several noble prizes as he watched his daughter smile in delight.

Finally was the picture of Kim's first ever day of Pre-K at the age of four (normally started in kindergarten at the age of three, Kim had been homeschooled for that first year).

She was wearing a teal sun dress, and seeing her small auburn mane tied up into twin pigtails made him snicker slightly: he had not seen her hair like that in years. Her freckled cheeks (that had disappeared with age unlike his own) were dimpled slightly by the smile lighting up her face, and she faced the camera at a slight angle with one of her arms raised up into the air proudly behind her head, her other hand at her hip.

Was it just his imagination, or did she also look just a _little _nervous as well?

Ron then noticed something in the background at the sand box. At the time Kim's father had taken the photo, Ron had been playing in the sandbox behind Kim in the background and, apparently, was talking very animatedly to someone. 'More than likely my imaginary friend Rufus,' Ron thought wistfully.

He thought to himself, 'Man, you didn't have a clue how lucky you were that day, meeting Kim that day...' He then shuddered slightly as an afterthought suddenly struck him. 'If you'd been home sick with the flu, or if mom didn't send you there, or something...'

The thought of not having Kim within his life was a prospect too horrid for him to even think about.

Silently, he thanked his lucky stars that he had met Kim that day. Though streetwise and quick on the uptake of what was 'cool' and what was not, Ron had not been very good at making friends at that age (or, for that matter, even now). The passive and humble attitude that he had carried within himself all of his life allowed him to take endless amounts of teasing and ridicule, whilst his kind and gentle soul did not allow him to consider any real form of retaliation.

_'Kim,' _he thought to himself, '_was truly my gateway to the rest of the world.' _

Combined with her type A personality and her fierce loyalty towards her friends, Kim had always made Ron's quiet and smiling presence tolerable by even the worst of bullies. It was like she had some magical aura that she naturally exuded, enveloping him too whilst he was within her presence.

Ron sighed to himself softly in happy reminiscence and continued on to Kim's 6th birthday where she sat at the end of a table surrounded by her mother and father, her mother with the first of the terrible twosome held in her arms. Kim smiled broadly as she pressed the side of her head against her best friend's face, Ron sitting beside her. Ron, however, was sitting beside Kim and in front of Kim's father with the other twin in his arms, held slightly away from him as Jim/Tim pulled on Ron's cheek, giving his smile a rather clownish appearance (further complimented by his mussed/twin abused hair and the look of surprise/terror in his eyes).

'Wow, Jim and Tim were…uh…almost two? And even then they terrorized...'

As Ron slowly continued towards Kim's room, pictures of the two of them being with one another thoroughly saturated the hall walls. Water Parks, little league games and even family reunions held these two seemingly inseparable friends together with laughter and smiles etched eternally into these immortal snapshots of precious and personal history. Ron soon reached the last picture and then stopped in front of it.

Within this picture that had been taken near the end of the past summer, Kim and Ron had been at another Possible family outing. Kim's mother Anne had received yet another accreditation and several bonuses, amongst other rewards. To celebrate, the Possible clan had gone to a chic new restaurant that was called the "Five Star Restaurant." It was a hip, Asian minimalist restaurant famous for occasional celebrity appearances and a sushi chef who prepared whatever he thought you would like to eat that night (and of course, being a master of his craft, he was always right).

The Possibles had invited Ron to come along and he'd dressed nicely for the special occasion, showing up at the Possible's front door with a lily for Kim's mom (her favorite) and with a black tie and matching slacks. However, he'd had no blazer to match. Mr. Possible had gone to the back room only briefly before coming back with an older jacket of his from college days. Finding it fit Ron rather well, the jacket was deemed to be his from now on.

At the restaurant, the chef had been told that the evening was a special occasion and had prepared a series of special dishes for each of the family members. One of prepared dishes had been a beautiful trio of Otoro sushi pieces for Ron. Ron, with all of his experience as a connoisseur of fine foods, had immediately recognized the special dish (much to the chef's delight) and thanked the maître'd and preparer warmly. Kim, not understanding the exceptionality of the dish had asked Ron (out of earshot of the waiter) what was so special about the dish.

Ron (used to Kim's ignorance in the knowledge of food) had Kim cleanse her pallet with a slice of ginger and, with just a hint of soy and wasabi, had hand fed Kim a piece whilst instructing her on the proper eating technique of such a delicacy. The photograph, which was actually two pictures side by side in the frame, was apparently taken by Kim's father as Ron was feeding Kim. The second was the look of absolute bliss on Kim's face and the gentle smile on Ron's as he stared into her closed eyes. Ron's heart pounded rapidly as he remembered the moan Kim had released upon savoring the tuna and how he had had to excuse himself from the table to calm himself down. It had been the first time he realized without a doubt that he lov-

Well, it was a very dear memory and, combined with the fact that it was the final picture leading up to Kim's door, he had to once again compose himself before he entered her room.

He knocked three times in softly, loud enough to catch her attention, but not hard enough to wake her up if still asleep. However, it was almost 8 o'clock, so pleasantries at this point might be a poor choice. Hearing Kim's voice but unable to understand her, he jiggled the handle fairly loudly to listen for a protest. Hearing none, he opened the door carefully, ready to shut it instantly if an airborne object made its way in his direction.

To his surprise (or not), Kim was still in bed. Her covers were sprawled across her bed, tangled up in her legs and barely reaching over her shoulders. He also noticed she was curled up around something, probably her Pandaroo.

"Ron…."

He jumped back in surprise. Was she waking up? She mumbled again, and he realized that she was just talking in her sleep.

"Ron…don't…stop…"

Ron arched his eyebrows. What in the world? He stepped closer and finally recognized what she was curled up against. It was a picture of the time when they had beaten Gill at camp Wannaweep. In the picture, Ron was grinning proudly as he pointed at Gill in the net, while Kim had her head in her hands, laughing at Ron's…Ron-ness.

At this distance, Ron could see the delicate shine of her auburn locks against the risen sun, the gently curling wisps of her bangs brushing over her cheeks. He swallowed as he followed the gentle curve of her shoulders with his eyes, dripping through the valley just above her hip and the swell of her hips beneath the sheets. Out of reflex, he reached over to brush the hair off of her face, as she normally did while in the realm consciousness. As his hand caressed her cheek, she rubbed her face gently against it and raised a hand up to clasp his hand against her face, quietly sighing in apparent delight. Ron's heart was about to give out and he sat down on the bed next to her head, unwilling to break contact with this slumbering seraphim.

Suddenly, Kim's beautiful green eyes opened. She blinked slowly and then sat up to stretch, releasing Ron's hand as she moved. She arched her back and then released a small whine. Ron could only sit there with his eyes locked upon her perfect silhouette, not knowing what to do. Kim glanced around the room, not quite fully awake yet, before finally her gaze settled upon Ron. After a few moments, her eyes widened in recognition.

Suddenly, she leaped at him like an auburn haired cougar and tackled him back onto the bed. However, their momentum bounced them off of the soft mattress and thus they were both swiftly and roughly deposited onto the floor. Kim's arms tightly wrapped themselves around Ron as she began to cry, still completely unaware of their recent excursion.

"Ron…you're alright!" Her voice was muffled as she buried her face in his chest, but her relief clearly apparent.

Not knowing what to do or say, he wrapped his arms around her shoulders and whispered, "I'm okay KP, really. Not even a scar."

Still sniffing, Kim pulled her face away to look into Ron's eyes. The shock lacing those beautiful emerald irises was evident. "How is that possible?" Kim whispered in amazement, "Shego tore into your chest! I've never seen her act like that! I mean, she went absolutely crazy when she saw you grabbing Drakken!"

Ron interrupted. "I grabbed Drakken?"

Kim nodded, eyes still shining. "Yeah, don't you remember?"

Ron closed his eyes for a moment and fought to remember…something white…something…

Anger. Blood, rage, anger...

Ron grabbed the side of his head, grimacing at the headache he had just acquired. Kim, alarmed by his sudden groan, raised her hand back to his face.

"Ron, are you okay?"

Ron shook his head. "No, no…I'm fine. I just got a headache," he muttered, relishing in the feeling of Kim's hand against his feverish skin before apologizing, "Sorry KP, all I remember from last night is a big white thing."

Kim still looked unconvinced. "Ron, how can you not have a scar?"

Ron sighed and then lifted up his shirt. "I don't know, KP. Doctor Stimpus said he'd never seen anything like it, and then he asked if he could take a sample of my blood. I freaked out a little because, you know, I don't like needles and…" He glanced back up at Kim and realized that her eyes had seemed to have glazed over somewhat. She raised a hand to the scars from his first attack, gently brushing them.

"Um…earth to KP…"

Kim's eyes refocused and, embarrassed by her zombification, she hugged her friend again. As she lay her head against his chest, he felt the blood rush to his face.

Then his brain went wild with activity!

He could hear her light breathing, even her heartbeat! It sounded like a drum to his ears. His blood immediately rushed from his head to…parts unknown.

He could smell her! She smelled of warmth, vanilla and a hint of perspiration…that and another scent he couldn't quiet identify…well, other than the fact that it made his pants feel rather tight…

He growled softly, his neurons firing wildly as he pulled her body tightly against, his hands running slowly from her shoulders, down her sides, into the gentle tapering of her waist.

Kim's eyes widened in surprise at Ron's growl. It was so animalistic, primal…like a dog or a wolf. As his hands drifted from her shoulder down her body, she felt her skin flush as she turned up to face Ron. As her eyes met his, she realized that they had changed somewhat. Instead of the warm cocoa she had grown fond of, they took on a yellowish tint and looked wilder. As she stared at him in mild shock, he leaned forward and nuzzled her nose with his own. As he rubbed his nose lightly against hers, he inhaled deeply, pressing his nose further down and in between her neck and shoulder. She felt a chill run down her back as his hot breath caressed her sensitive nape, gasping aloud as his hands slid down and tightly (but not painfully so) gripped her hips, pulling her closer to his body. Her heart raced as she felt him lightly nip her neck before she whispered, "Ron…what are…?"

Ron pulled away and cocked his head slightly to the side, watching at her as curiously as a puppy might watch a ball rolling past them; his eyes, she noticed, lacked the yellow hue she had noticed before, but then again she couldn't be sure what she had seen given the circumstances. Then Kim lifted a hand to his face and Ron whispered in a hoarse voice, "Kim, I need…let me…I…" Her scent was driving him wild and he was about to lose his mind right there and then.

He was breathing very hard indeed when the door burst open and the tweebs stood in the hallway with a camera. Before either of them could move, they snapped a picture, capturing Ron and Kim's candid moment in crystal clear digital format. They ran out laughing, yelling something about cooties and uploading it to every e-mail account within the Internet.

Kim and Ron stared out into the hallway in shock, then looked at each other. They stood up quickly, avoiding eye contact as they attempted to reset their pulse rates to a reasonable level. They were quiet for a moment, before Kim decided to break the silence.

"Uh…I'll go pound the tweebs…" she then proceeded to rush out of the room, face red and…somehow dissatisfied. Ron heard her scream and at the same time heard the tweebs laugh.

'They must have been successful' he thought, a wry grin pinching the corner of his mouth upwards. He shook his head to clear his mind of what had, or almost had happened.

He could still hear her heartbeat, still thumping quickly…

Du-dump, du-dump, du-dump, du-dump, du-dump, du-dump….

* * *

He sat in the darkness, a dark and brooding figure; the thin shafts of moonlight piercing from the broken skylight above barely illuminated his languid form.

'Hmm…a lot can happen in six hundred years…' he thought to himself, staring into the broken glass work fifty meters above him. He grimaced in distaste.

'I'd have thought that Jervas would have enough sense left to keep the castle from falling into disrepair…I suppose I'll have to deal with him in an…appropriate manner…'

He pressed a pale finger to his temple briefly, his eyes closed in mild annoyance as he sent Jervas a very…_personal_ message. He grinned savagely as he felt the discomfort and fear saturating the other end of the bond.

'Jervas, would you please make your way to the fore chamber? I have some housekeeping responsibilities I'd like to discuss with you…'

Poor Jervas…

* * *

**Please review and I have a question for you all (especially for my beta, Mike, who is a fantastic source of detail and inspiration for me)**

**Would you guys like about the same level of passion in the story? Or should I rev it up later? Basically, should the Sexiness rating stay at T or should I bump it up to some citrus-like content at M (limey stuff and beyond)? I won't write all out lemons, but I can up the citrus content for sure. Vote in Review for ****fluff**** or**** juice ****in future content. Peace you guys!**


	7. This Won't Hurt A Bit

**Chapter 7**

Kim found herself unable to concentrate within first block...well, not that 'Advanced Calculus' normally stimulated her to new heights anyway. But, after _that_ particular morning, her attention deficit had become exceptionally noticeable. She often found herself blushing to a ridiculous and near over the top extent as she tried to get the dream that had been pleasantly plaguing her out of her head.

_Kim found herself lounging at the Middleton beach, her body oiled and glistening within the pleasant heat of the afternoon July sun. She was stretched languidly over an over sized beach towel depicting Harrison Ford (of which whom she had previously rescued from his sinking fishing boat) as his famous archetypical character, Indiana Jones. In the low humidity at 96°F, there was not a better spot in all of the inland Americas to be than within this Middleton, California mini-getaway._

_In her favorite cocoa-brown suit, complemented with a single gold bangle, Kim sighed with pure and relaxed satisfaction as the sound of the waves crashing against the white sand, the seagulls soaring through the clean, salty air and even the echoing of a foghorn in the distant, blue deep seemed to draw her into a peaceful lull…it became hard to form coherent thoughts from this pleasantly apathetic stupor within which she was so deliciously enveloped. How could this day be any better?_

_Suddenly, a shadow passed over her line of sight: a shadow that was now blocking her body from the beloved rays of delicious warmth that were previously permeating her relaxed form. Her annoyance was brief however, for when she opened her eyes, she found Ron Stoppable smiling down at her…wearing swim trunks with...penguins printed upon them?_

"_Hey KP…sorry I'm late. Dad wanted my help rearranging his CD's in order by both the release dates and the number of Yiddish words used."_

_Kim could not help but smile brightly at this as she was unsure if Ron was joking around or not. Amused, she then asked, "Ron, are those penguins on your pants?"_

_Ron glanced down at his trunks for just a brief moment, and then he smiled that classic goofy grin of his. He then brightly exclaimed, "Yeah KP, aren't they bon-diggity?" He then turned back to her and then playfully muttered with a sly wink, "Or maybe I'm just happy to see you." _

_As Kim's cheeks flared with flattered embarrassment, he continued._

"_How's it going over here on your end?"_

_Kim laughed brightly and then stretched, arching her back like a cat, seemingly oblivious to the appreciative gaze of her best friend. "It feels wonderful…except I have this slight kink in my neck…"_

_Ron raised his eyebrows as he knelt down beside her. "Well," he said with a sly grin upon his face, "we'll just have to do something about that…won't we?"_

_She giggled, and then turned over so that she was lying upon her stomach, her legs gently crossed at the ankles and slightly rasied as she settles into the sun-warmed cotton. In turn, Ron kneeled over her so that he was gently straddling her back with one leg on each side of her waist, and then cracked his knuckles lightly. He then pressed his hands to her shoulders and began to slowly kneed her back, starting from within the middle and then working down to the small of her back. His hands then gently moved back up to the top along the back of her neck. He pushed and molded the muscles in a gentle and soothing manner, yet they were firm and powerful._

"_Ron…don't…stop…" Kim mumbled sleepily, her words almost bordering upon a satisfied purr. _

_Ron leaned over her shoulder and then whispered gently into her ear, "Anything for my Kim…"_

Kim shook her head to clear the dream induced fog.

Ron had returned to school to find himself once again a figure of both awe and desire. The news of his thrashing Terry Durtman had made him the next 'new thing' amongst the student body. Surviving an attack from Shego and walking around the morning after made him a celebrity, a heart throb and a boy toy worth working/scheming for. He may have been a demigod among the other young men, but from within the sea of estrogen that had become Middleton High, he was as paranoid as a schizophrenic hydrophobe that was being circled by a rabid school of hammerhead sharks. Kim had passed no less than four packs of both eager and plotting girls that were planning upon the best way of how to both corner Ron and_ then_ claim him for their own (even talking of 'sharing' him, much to Kim's chagrin).

Kim shuddered: how were they going to get Ron out of here in one piece? "Or at least," thought Kim, "with his chastity intact?" Kim could not help but blush heavily at the thought, and she once again found herself reliving that morning's events by using her mind's eye once more. Her pulse rate once again quickened in response to the relived memory...fantasy?

_This is ridiculous! We're best friends! We were just...uh, happy to see each other and, uh…_

She stole a quick glance towards the back of the room where the classroom clock was kept, and she found herself eagerly wishing that the time would go faster: it was too bad that she and Ron did not have first block together. They could have used the time to plan upon just exactly how they were going to get him out of school whilst remaining both fully clothed and unscathed.

"…and you're wearing them right now?"

"Yep, and at lunch I'm gonna walk into him and drop my books in front of him. You know, just to catch him off guard."

"Wow…and what about Kim?"

THAT caught Kim's attention. As she turned to her left, she found Liz and Marcella, her fellow cheer leaders, speaking in not so hushed whispers (although, it was not really necessary as the calculus teacher at the school was nearly stone deaf; it was a running joke within the school concerning his inability to be fired since it was apparent that he simply just could not hear his dismissal in the first place).

"What," asked Marcella in a questioning sort of tone, "it's not like she's claimed him or anything. She had her chance. Now, it's open season…and I've got a loaded rifle…"

_They're talking about Ron?_

Kim watched as Marcella reached down to her hips and then rolled something between her fingers…the side tie-strings upon her underwear? Marcella pulled them just above the waistband of her black, leather pants as Liz once again spoke.

"Well, what about that photo? You got the email, right?" she muttered with a sly smile stamped upon her face.

"Like I said, it's open season and Ronnie's fair game. If she wants him, she gonna have to fight for him....but, once he's with me, Kim'll be old news too..."

Kim fought back both anger and nausea as Marcella continued to describe just exactly what she intended to do with both Ron as a whole and with certain pieces of him. Liz sat in sordid fascination.

"…and with him as the next new thing, whichever girl he picks is QB material for sure," Marcella finished with a sly grin.

Liz stared at her for a moment before she finally realized what Marcella was saying. Breaking out into a laugh, she chuckled, "Oh, Queen Bee! I get it now!"

Marcella merely raised an eyebrow in annoyance at Liz's usual slowness to catch onto various High School acronyms. Kim knew most of the acronyms, but those were mostly from Monique's own special brand of linguistics: her patented 'Monique-speak'.

Liz continued. "And what did Bonnie say about Ron?"

Marcella snorted. Kim inconspicuously leaned in a little closer as Marcella treacherously whispered, "Bonnie says that he's still a loser and off limits, but I heard that she's planning to try and play both Brick and Ron for double the points."

Liz and Kim (with the latter being unheard) gasped at this and the conversation continued with further gossip. Kim was unable to take further notes due to her eavesdropping.

When the bell finally rang, Kim was the first one out of the door. Rushing to her locker, which was right across from the bathrooms, she practically tore the door off of its hinges as she hurried to boot up the Kimmunicator computer that was contained within. She needed Wade to get them out of here, NOW, before third block. She had study hall this period, so she was hopeful that she could find a distraction or an emergency within that time period. As the computer booted up and opened a connection onto Wade, she heard someone loudly whisper her name.

"Pssst…Kim!"

She looked around for a few moments before finally noticing Ron's head peeking out from around the corner of the boys bathroom door frame. She cautiously walked over to him.

"What's wrong?"

Ron sighed. "A group of girls chased me and I ducked in here! Mr Barkin and some other teachers sent them off to class with week-long detentions when they were caught trying to melt the locks with welders from Shop Class."

Kim sweat-dropped. "Uh…wow."

Ron started to say something else but stopped when he heard Wade's voice emanate from Kim's locker.

"Kim?"

She ran back over to her locker with relief shining out of her eyes as the rounded genius, Wade Load, waved at her her. She motioned Ron to come over from the bathroom door as Wade curiously asked, "Yo Kim, it's been a few days. What's up?"

"Wade, have there been any hits on the web site? Anything at all?"

Wade, used to this sort of pushiness that was evident within her voice, bent over his computer keyboard and then typed furiously for a few moments. Ron, on the other hand, had not left the sanctuary that was the men's bathroom.

"Ron," Kim called impatiently, "get over here, I need Wade to look at something."

"Are you sure they're all gone?"

Kim sighed wearily.

"Yes, Ron, I'm the only one out here…well, not including Wade on the monitor."

Ron sighed and, peeking up and down the hall twice each to ensure it was truly deserted, left the safety of the men's room behind. He sauntered over to Kim's side by the monitor. Kim found herself snorting in amusement.

"Paranoid much, Ron?"

Ron shuddered in remembrance. "You would be too if you'd seen the things I'd seen." With his eyes widened, he continued to rant to his semi-captive audience, "This one girl, she, like, dropped out of the ceiling tiles while her partners tunneled out from the floor using sporks from the caf…and don't even get me started on the set of twins with the trip wires…"

At Kim's sudden burst of laughter, his eyes narrowed as then he indignantly responded, "Well, that's what it felt like at least!"

With a slight grin still adorning her graceful features, Kim turned back to Wade who seemed both confused and highly amused by Ron's vivid description/imagination. Curious, he asked, "What's Ron talking about, Kim?"

"Actually," Kim mumbled slowly as she bit her lower lip in deep thought. She then sighed before continuing, "that's sort of what I needed to talk to you about."

Kim quickly filled Wade in on the events of the past few days, with Ron interjecting every few seconds when he felt that the description was not lively enough. Kim conveniently, however, skipped over the events of that morning and the, uh, more personal moments of Kim's hospital visit.

"…and he still has the scars from the first attack, but not from Shego's," Kim finished.

Wade rubbed his non-stubbled chin in deep thought as he pondered over the events/evidence that Kim and Ron had laid before him. He then leaned forward and quickly typed his notes onto his computer with a blur of activity.

"Ron," Wade asked, "can I see the actual bite marks? Kim had me check the hospital records and their photos, but I'd like to scan them into the Kimmunicator directly for analysis." Ron simply nodded and then lifted his shirt up so that Kim could scan him. Wade did a double take at Ron's apparent new found figure, but said nothing. He simply typed some more as he added this additional information into his computer notes, his eyes narrowed slightly with suspicion. However, this went unnoticed by both Kim or Ron.

Kim, on the other hand, activated the Kimmunicator scanning function and then ran the red bean slowly over Ron's scars. She passed over them two to three times from multiple angles to ensure complete accuracy. She then noticed Ron's sagging waistline and could not help but think, "Oh, my..."

A hint of Ron's pelvic bone was peeking over the waistband of his boxers, along with a thin line of hair from his navel to his…

Kim nearly dropped the Kimmunicator as she fumbled to put it back inside of her bag. Her heart was racing and thus pounding against her ribcage as if it were performing some sort exotic, drum orientated dance routine.

Ron noticed her shaking hands and, dropping his shirt back down so that it covered him once more, asked if she was alright, concern clearly present within his voice. Kim responded promptly by dropping her entire bag - along with the majority of its contents - onto the hallway floor.

"Dang it, I, uh…"

She bent down to pick up the scattered books, papers and other educational materials as Ron knelt beside her to help. As they were picking up the last book, they both reached for it at the same time: Ron's rather large paw almost completely closed over her smaller and slender hand.

They looked up at each simultaneously and found themselves locking eyes with one another. Kim's breath caught itself within her throat as she traced his visage carefully: the playful way his slight bangs swayed as he cocked his head slightly to the side, the gentle curvature of his jaw and…was that stubble? How long had Ron been shaving for? Or even growing facial hair for that matter? How had she not noticed this now critical piece of information before? He was her best friend now for over thirteen years, and she had just begun to notice…

"-kay there KP?"

Kim blinked and found herself being snapped back to the present as she quickly realized that Ron had just addressed her. Judging from the concerned glint radiating from within his soft and brown eyes, she had the feeling that he had tried to apparently do this several times previously.

"Sorry Ron, I was…distracted. You were saying?"

Still appearing concerned, he offered her his hand so that he could help her up.

"I just asked if you were feeling okay, KP. You seemed sort of zombified for a second or two there," he said with mild humor glinting from within his eyes. Kim stared at him for a few moments, and then smiled herself, glad that Ron was at least acting like the Ron that she had known for all of these years.

"Ron, 'zombified' is sooo not a word," she started playfully as he helped her back onto her feet with her book bag in tow.

"Of course it is KP," he quipped with an almost righteous indignation, "it is the act of becoming or being made a zombie or zombie-like."

"Well," she started with a twinkle inside of her eyes as one of their oh-so-serious-but-so-not-really debates began to fire up, "technically 'zombified' would be an adjective, much like tall or handsome, not an action. Example: a Zombified Barkin, a Barkin who has been made into a zombie!"

Ron slowly shook his head in the manner that an old sage might display disappointment in a promising yet foolish apprentice.

"But, in order to become 'zombified' Barkin, he must first undergo 'zombification' and be 'zombificated,' which may also be shortened to 'zombified.' It is a verb and an adjective the same way 'taught' is both a verb and an adjective. Example: you have been well taught in the art of zombification. Since you have been taught so well, make use of your talents and zombify Barkin immediately. Thus, Barking will have been 'zombified.' Also, it would be a passive action which could be called a process, such as the calcification of the protagonists's knuckles against Barkin's zombie face."

He gave a slight bow as Kim slowly shook her head whilst sighing and pinching the bridge of her nose in a strange mixture of annoyance, amusement and outright disbelief.

"Ron, how is it you can debate and provide evidence for the validity of words normally unusable in hu-…normal human conversation, yet you can't seem to do more than barely pass English?"

"I like to chalk it up to my essential Ronness."

"Uh guys…I'm still here," came Wade's voice from within Kim's nearly forgotten locker. Sheepishly, the duo turned back to face the heavy set genius, clearly embarrassed for having forgotten about his company during their little moment of banter.

"Sorry about that Wade," Kim quickly apologized. She tilted her head slightly as she addressed him. "Did you find anything about the bite marks or compiled evidence that may point to what happened to Ron?"

Still typing with both hands, Wade simply replied, "Nothing yet except for the obvious. Canine-like scar pattern, but far too large for a big dog or even a large wolf. Maybe the scanner also picked up some DNA evidence, like a hair trapped in the scar tissue."

Ron shivered with distaste at the thought whilst Kim pressed on: she was eager for any sort of situation to present itself that would get them out of the soon to be swarming fan girl mobs that would almost certainly be upon the hunt for her best friend.

_Trying to get their grubby hands on my Ron, well I've got news fo-...wait, what!? My Ron? Where'd that come from?_

_But look at him, he's sooo yummy right now. I just wanna nibble on those ears and-_

_That's it! When we get home, you are getting a nice cold shower, I mean, WE are getting a nice cold shower!_

Kim's torrential inner monologue was once again interrupted by Ron, this time as he held her chin gently inside of one of his palms and as he pressed the backside of his other hand against her fairly heated forehead.

"Uh, Ron, what are you doing?"

"Hmmm, that's like the fourth time you've spaced out this morning, KP. I was just wondering if you were feeling okay." He frowned slightly as he pressed the back of his hand against her cheek now instead of her forehead, seemingly oblivious to (or perhaps concerned about) Kim's fairly flushed appearance. "Hmmm…you do feel warmer than normal."

Now it was Kim's turn to turn the tables.

"Now, Ron, how do you know how warm I usually am?"

Ron, quickly realizing the possible implications of his own words, suddenly turned a remarkably vibrant shade of magenta as he quickly pulled his hands back and away from her face so that he could stuff them deep into his pockets.

"No, I mean, uh, you know, how warm you might expect someone to be. Not that, you know, I touch girl's faces all the time, uh, yeah so…or faces! I mean girls! I mean…"

Kim grinned both mischievously and with amusement as she watched Ron's nervous stammering.

_He's so cute when he's nervous! _

_And when he shuffles his foot like that! _

_Or when he's just standing around-_

…

_Definitely a cold shower for you when we get home…_

Slightly perturbed this time, Wade once again interrupted Kim from her internal battle royale with a slightly annoyed, "Kim, is there anything else I can do right now? Otherwise, I'm going to go play with this data and see what I can come up with regarding the Ron sitch. That okay with you, Ron?"

At Ron's affirmation, Kim remembered the more pressing reason for her call.

"Wade, is there any sort of sitch right now? Like five minutes ago would have been great."

Wade typed for a moment before his eyes suddenly lit up.

"Well," he began, "there's a robbery at Middleton Central bank right now, but that's not real-"

"Thanks loads Wade! We'll get right on it!" Kim interrupted as she quickly passed the Kimmunicator to Ron so that she could grab her bag and run into to the girl's room to change.

"Ron, get the intel from Wade and then change quick," she shouted from over her shoulder just before she swiftly vanished into her designated lavatory.

Slightly stunned, Ron turned back to Wade.

"Well, I guess we're in a bit of a hurry."

Ron shrugged.

"Okay Wade, what have you got for us?"

Recovering from Kim's quick exit, Wade quickly began to remotely download the information directly into the miniature supercomputer resting between Ron's hands.

"Well, it looks like there are 3 perps: two with tasers and one wielding a small firearm…"

* * *

"Oh, my God…"

Tiffany was just a junior Biology major at Middleton University. Working in the nearby medical laboratories, she hoped that she could work her way into a laboratory technician's position through medical school and then finally get both her Phd and MD in medical research and physician certification. A 4.0 student with high hopes for the future, her excitement had reached critical mass when the research team of the most distinguished Dr. Richard Stimpus requested her assistance with a genetics project that involved accelerated healing in human beings, due to some slight allelic variations found within a certain research specimen.

She just barely stifled a horrified scream as yet another gunshot was fired: blood and grey matter splattered the pristine walls of the genetics laboratory as her lab partner was mercilessly obliterated just as effectively as an annoyed homeowner might have stamped upon a cockroach. Far beyond the realm of normal and rational fear, Tiffany could not force her lungs and vocal cords to form any type of noise as she became literally paralyzed with soul chilling fright. As she moved further under the bench in an attempt to hide from her hunter, she felt something squish lightly under her palm. To her horror, she found the majority of one of her former lab partner's eyes flattened against the palm of her hand, the dark, distorted pupil reflecting her shocked expression in the glassiness of the eye's filmy covering. Tiffany promptly vomited.

When she had accepted the position offered to her, she had been warned by Dr. Stimpus that some higher ups might possibly attempt to pull their research (after all, if the US government knew what was going on here, they'd at best want to control it, at worst take it away from the Stimpus research team by military force). Faced with these possible 'dangers', Tiffany had decided that nothing worth doing was completely risk-free.

Nothing could have prepared her for this sort of evil brutality.

"Where is he, hmmm…?"

The voice seemed to purr once again, as if relishing in the violence and destruction its source was wreaking; Tiffany heard yet another gunshot be fired. A cry of agony ripped its way away from its source as the unfortunate victim desperately gripped his now useless left leg in mortal anguish. Dr. Stimpus's haggard breathing reached her ringing ears even from this far away. Sheer terror and horror were easy to read upon his terrified features.

"I don't know! I, I don't have access to that sort of informa-" he screamed in agony once again as the blatant dishonesty lacing his voice was apparent even to Tiffany's naïve ears. His lie was interrupted by yet another air cracking boom of merciless gunfire and the doctor's gripping of his own torn, right shoulder as yet another bellow of uncontrollable agony was pushed forth from his aching lungs.

The assailant raised the gun again, this time training it upon the ill-fortuned researchers' terrified face.

With his voice deep and smooth, he merely purred quietly as he asked, "One last chance: where is he?"

Dr. Richard Stimpus, Phd & Md, raised his quivering chin in one last act of defiance.

"Never. You can go straight to he-"

The crack of the large pistol's thunder silenced the respected physician and scientist forever.

Tiffany's paralysis continued even as the figure spat upon the still warm corpse and then turned his head in her direction. His dark eyes gleaming with both mild frustration and amusement at the sight of her huddled beneath the lab bench, much like an unfortunate mouse cornered by a cat…

"Hello, my dear," he softly said with a surprising gentleness carried deep within his voice. He strode over to her with a disturbingly warm smile gracing his features.

"Hopefully, you can help me. I'm looking for the subject of your wonderful genetic experiments. Do you know how I may contact him?"

He knelt next to her and offered his hand towards her cowering form. The corners of his eyes crinkled with apparent delight. She glanced around in apparent shock as she was surrounded by the gore of her fellow researchers, yet she was faced with the absurdity of his calm and soothing demeanor. He chuckled, his voice like soft and silky velvet as he whispered, "Oh, there's nothing to fear from me my dear…I would never allow pain to come to someone as helpful and charming as yourself."

Tiffany's fear seemed to seep from her body as she tentatively took his hand: her eyes, however, remained locked onto his own bright blue orbs as she crawled out from underneath the table, her refuge, to stand before him. Her voice seemed to come unclenched and she quickly found herself replying without really thinking about it.

"Yes, his, uh, records are kept in that computer terminal over there. All of the professor's records are."

She spoke softly, pointing to the monitor and switchboards within the corner. Her eyes became slightly glazed over as she whispered, "The password is 'Ozymandias,' uppercase 'O,' like the ruler…"

"Ah, thank you, you've been most helpful…" he said softly, yet his voice had lost its soothing quality and his eyes lost their luster. Tiffany's eyes seemed to suddenly clear, and she quickly realized what had just happened. She raised her hands to her face in horror.

He smiled once again, but this time there was a mad gleam within his eyes as he raised his weapon past Tiffany's wide and terrified eyes and towards her brow.

"This won't hurt a bit…"

The laboratories' sound absorbing walls kept anyone outside of the room completely unaware of the events that usually went on inside (as the machines within the lab tended to hit about 75-80 decibels, and even as much as 100 at peak processing, the labs had been sound-proofed to prevent the noise from radially affecting other experiments within the building). Even the resounding howl of the stranger's pistol only gave off the slightest of thumps to anyone who may have been standing in the abandoned hallway located outside.

His fingers skimmed across the keyboard as he accessed the well of information in the genetic laboratories computer system. Although they were admittedly interesting projects worth millions (perhaps eventually billions for the right people), they were quickly passed over as he searched for his goal. A few short moments later, he grinned as a portrait of his subject loaded on screen (looking as if it was taken for a high school photo, of which it had been). He kept his glee to himself as he read off the subject's name to himself.

"Ronald Dean Stoppable."

He quickly scanned all of the available information: weight, height, age and even, surprised at his own great fortune, the name and address of the subject's high school (oddly enough, not his home address…no matter).

After assuring his own memorization of the available information, he retrieved a small, spherical device from his belt. Pressing a switch upon its side, the terminal quickly fizzled out as the high powered magnet completely scrambled, erased and thus destroyed the terminal's hard drives.

"Well, Mr. Stoppable," he said with a slight sneer, "it's time we had ourselves a little talk..."

* * *

"…and when you dropped him with that kick to the face, and both he and your pants hit the ground at the same time!" Kim sputtered through her giggle fit, tears literally falling down her face as she held her now aching stomach as she rode out this latest set of spastic abdominal contractions.

"…but still, KP, you didn't have to laugh so hard. It happens at least every few missions, so how could it inspire such a powerful reaction even now? You'd think you would have grown used to it by this point."

Ron tried to form his patented 'serious face,' but seeing the incredible amount of mirth provided by his most recent wardrobe malfunction completely stole the wind from his sails and thus, his own mouth split into a wide grin as well. Seeing Kim happy could pull him out of any sour mood nigh instantaneously…but of course, she could not know that.

Not even the most prominent hopes of love were worth risking the middle tier of his little hierarchy of needs. Ron may have gotten a lot of guff in school for not doing homework and for generally lazing about and procrastinating in his work, but he was by no means stupid. And he very well understood Maslow's pyramid, where the basic needs formed the supportive and how relationships fell into place.

Nothing could ruin a friendship like a botched confession, or worse yet, complete rejection…and nothing was worth the risk of losing both his and Kim's friendship. It was quite literally his entire world. Sure, his parents were great and they did love him, but they were so busy all the time…they never really felt like his parents so much as a wonderful aunt and uncle who had raised him and who hung out with him in their spare time. And Rufus...he was a wonderful pet...no, friend.

But Kim…

"And what were they again, Ron? Blue with bananas?"

He gave her a sheepish grin and then answered, "Yeah, they say 'happy to see you' on them. They were a novelty item at Smarty Mart, so I just had to have 'em…"

Kim stared at him for second before yet another fit of laughter rendered her completely helpless.

Ron's mind fell back to this morning and he felt his heart ramp up as he recalled Kim's knocking him off the bed in her enthusiasm to greet his still living form. Sure, that may count for something, but that proved nothing concrete other than her relief at not being responsible for, directly or indirectly, the passing of a dear friend.

_I'm sure she would've have reacted the same if Monique had been in some sort of accident._

_Yeah, and what about that dream she was having?_

_Yeah, she was telling me to stop something. I mean, who knows what that was all about._

_Or, was it 'don't stop?' I mean, it could have been, right? Why not?_

_Because you're Ron Stoppable, that's why…not Josh Mankey and not Brick Flag. Heck, you're not even Richard Simmons on the coolness scale…_

…_okay, maybe it's not that bad, but still, the point has been made._

"Ahhh," Kim sighed, her laughter finally leaving her in a state of control, "let's get back to the school Banana-Boy. You've still got another makeup exam with Barkin."

"You know KP, I just don't understand how Barkin can teach all of our classes. I mean, I think I've only met about four, maybe five other adults at Middleton High in the last, uh, two and a half years. Where are all the other teachers?"

Kim stopped at Ron's comment, lost in the realization that Ron had a point. With the exception of her Advanced Calculus teacher and a select few others, Barkin was really the only authority figure she could recall seeing off the top of her head.

"Hey Ron, you have a poi-"

Her response was cut short as the Kimmunicator chirped loudly, saving the conversation for another time. Slightly put off, she nonetheless pulled the device from her cargo pocket and put on her "mission face" as she answered the call.

"What's the sitch Wade?"

"Kim, big problem here," Wade shouted over the transmission, his fingers flying across the keyboard as his crinkled brow beaded with sweat. Kim had never seen him so bent out of shape before and it made her more than a little nervous. Ron, who had stepped behind Kim to see Wade as well, also felt uneasy at the young prodigy's panicked state.

"Wade," Kim started, her voice both an example of calm and authority, "just tell us what's going on. What's the big?"

"Kim, it's Middleton High. Some psycho dropped in and is holding the students hostage in the gymnasium at gunpoint."

Kim managed to keep her surprise from flickering across her face, but the shadow of worry and confusion settled onto Ron's face almost immediately. Why would anyone take their high school hostage? If it was not an anonymous bomb threat or a kid on a spree of revenge, then what possible reason would there be to…unless…they were after…

"Wade," Ron yelled over Kim's shoulder, grabbing the Kimmunicator with one hand to turn it towards himself, "are they asking for us? Is it one of our enemies targeting us directly at our school?"

Kim's eyes widened as she realized that she had never really thought about that option before…the possibility that a super villain might actually target her school just to get rid of her…and Ron.

"Actually Ron," Wade began, his eyes trained directly on Ron's, "he's asking for you. Just you."

* * *

**Sorry it took a while for the update everybody, I've had a lot of catching up to do lately. I won't bore you with the details (unless you really want me to), but hopefully my next update will be out in the next couple of weeks (and remain this length as well without sacrificing the...uh..."quality" of my writing?)**

**Again, _please_ read and review. It helps me grow as a writer to learn what is good and bad about my writing (and of course, what tanks immeasurably)**. ** Again, huge thank to Mike, my beta. High fives to you and yours buddy!  
**


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